The Spanish-language Univision this summer is launching a digital network that will enable viewers to tap into its programming on computers, smartphones and tablets.
The new service is called the UVideos Digital Network, the company said Friday. It will have special content and social media links designed to encourage people to use handheld computers while they’re watching television, called second-screen viewing.
The Univision broadcast network, by far the most popular among the Spanish-speaking audience in the United States, will premiere two new telenovelas next year. One is a comedy involving a macho man forced to dress as a woman occasionally to win the heart of the woman he loves. The other is a love story about a man who is unjustly accused and wants to clear his name and who falls in love with a veterinarian whose fiance was killed.
Telenovelas, prime-time soap operas that run five nights a week, are the bread and butter of Univision’s programming. Much of it comes through its exclusive U.S. distribution deal with Televisa, the Mexican production company. Two-thirds of Univision’s audience is of Mexican descent.
Televisa and Univision this fall will begin making the network’s first Internet-only novela, Univision said. Mexican movie star Kate del Castillo, who has appeared on CBS’s “CSI: Miami,” also is making two Web novelas for Univision.
Largely because of telenovelas, 94 percent of Univision viewers watch the programming live, said Randy Falco, Univision Communications Inc.’s president and CEO. At English-speaking networks, DVR and video on demand usage has reduced live viewing to 85 percent and falling, the Nielsen ratings company says. Advertisers prefer live viewing because their commercials can’t be skipped.
Besides the Univision network, Univision Communications owns the broadcast network Telefutura and the cable network Galavision and an expanding collection of Internet-only channels.
“If marketers want to tap into the growth that the Hispanic community offers,” Falco said, “they have to come to us.”
Utah Leaders and Locals Rally To Keep Sundance Film Festival In The State
With the 2025 Sundance Film Festival underway, Utah leaders, locals and longtime attendees are making a final push โ one that could include paying millions of dollars โ to keep the world-renowned film festival as its directors consider uprooting.
Thousands of festivalgoers affixed bright yellow stickers to their winter coats that read "Keep Sundance in Utah" in a last-ditch effort to convince festival leadership and state officials to keep it in Park City, its home of 41 years.
Gov. Spencer Cox said previously that Utah would not throw as much money at the festival as other states hoping to lure it away. Now his office is urging the Legislature to carve out $3 million for Sundance in the state budget, weeks before the independent film festival is expected to pick a home for the next decade.
It could retain a small presence in picturesque Park City and center itself in nearby Salt Lake City, or move to another finalist โ Cincinnati, Ohio, or Boulder, Colorado โ beginning in 2027.
"Sundance is Utah, and Utah is Sundance. You can't really separate those two," Cox said. "This is your home, and we desperately hope it will be your home forever."
Last year's festival generated about $132 million for the state of Utah, according to Sundance's 2024 economic impact report.
Festival Director Eugene Hernandez told reporters last week that they had not made a final decision. An announcement is expected this year by early spring.
Colorado is trying to further sweeten its offer. The state is considering legislation giving up to $34 million in tax incentives to film festivals like Sundance through 2036 โ on top of the $1.5 million in funds already approved to lure the Utah festival to its neighboring... Read More