ABC News and Univision announced Monday their collaboration on an English-language news, entertainment and lifestyle venture that will cater to the country's 50 million Hispanics viewers.
Plans for the venture first came to light in February. A website, as well as mobile and social media content, are expected to debut this summer. A yet-to-be named, 24/7 television channel is expected to launch next year.
The two companies will share newsgathering and production resources, and networks and anchors will be based in major cities across the U.S. A management team is expected to be announced this summer.
“This exciting joint venture represents the latest example of our long-term strategy to broaden the reach of ABC. Our powerful premier news brand, combined with the world’s leading Hispanic media company, will create the nation’s first news and lifestyle channel targeted to this quickly expanding and important community,” said Anne Sweeney, co-chair of Disney Media Networks and president, Disney/ABC Television Group. Cesar Conde, president, Univision Networks.
“This alliance combines the expertise and brand strength of Univision News with ABC News’ leadership and is another example of Univision’s commitment to serving and empowering Hispanic America while connecting all audiences to Latino issues,” said Cesar Conde, president of Univision Networks.
It is the second major partnership for ABC News announced in the past six months. In October, the company began an online alliance with Yahoo! that made them more unique viewers than any other news site. (Yahoo already held the distinction, but the ABC News traffic padded the lead.) The two announced last month that nearly half a billion of their videos were streamed in March.
