Less than 24 hours after a major shakeup in its corporate ranks, Univision Communications has moved forward with its widely discussed plans to launch an advertising-supported streaming service serving Spanish-speaking U.S. Hispanics.
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Introducing PrendeTV, which Univision executives believe will bow in Q1.
What will it include?
Univision says PrendeTV will offer “the most comprehensive offering of unlimited premium and exclusive content ever curated for U.S. Hispanic consumers, including an unprecedented collection of high-quality, curated Spanish-language series, movies and more featuring the biggest celebrities in the world.”
While that’s a huge promise, Univision will likely use PrendeTV as an en español version of Viacom’s Pluto TV, perhaps. It says “Hollywood blockbusters and acclaimed global television series” will appear alongside the tried-and-true telenovela. There’s also “classic sports” and children’s programming, plus — of course — content from the libraries of both Univision and its longtime Mexican partner, Televisa.
The hook: the content isn’t available on any other streaming platform.
In a statement, new Univision CEO Wade Davis calls PrendeTV “an important, early step in Univision’s broader efforts to build the same leadership position we have in Spanish-language TV in the emerging Spanish-language streaming space.”
And, the announcement of PrendeTV’s pending launch, made within two weeks of Davis taking the Univision throne from Vince Sadusky and saying goodbye to Steve Mandala, “underscores our focus and commitment to rapidly driving the transformation and growth of the company,” Davis adds. “With the launch of PrendeTV we are focused on bringing new ways for our advertisers to reach the U.S. Hispanic audience and, importantly, PrendeTV will be a critical part of our strategy to grow the scope of our business partnerships with our key distributors.”
Unlike NBCUniversal’s Peacock or, perhaps, Hulu, PrendeTV will launch with “over 30 channels and 10,000 hours of video-on-demand programming” in Spanish from global content partners.
And, Univision says, “PrendeTV will continue to grow and significantly expand its premium content offering in the coming months.”
PrendeTV takes its name from the Spanish-language word for “switch on” or “turn on.”
How can one access PrendeTV?
That’s a question that can’t be answered at this time.
The service will be available at launch via Prende.TV on desktop and mobile web, and via free mobile and connected TV apps. However, details on distribution partners will not be announced until a later date. Further, advertising launch partners will be announced in the coming weeks.
