MIAMI—Univision Communications has announced that it is buying Vix Inc., a Spanish-language ad-supported streaming service, to help with its eventual launch of PrendeTV. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
In January, Univision announced that it planned to launch PrendeTV, an ad-supported streaming service created exclusively for Hispanic audiences in the U.S. Vix operates the largest free streaming platform in Spanish, with more than 20,000 hours of content and advertising serving Latin American and Hispanic audiences. Univision will integrate the newly acquired Vix into PrendeTV to boost its offering at launch.
In addition to content, Vix already has distribution across more than 30 connected TV and mobile platforms, including Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV and Android TV.
"Vix is the next important step toward Univision's goal of creating the most comprehensive ad-supported streaming service ever produced for Latino audiences," said Pierluigi Gazzolo, president and CEO of Univision Transformation. “Vix's team, content and distribution capabilities across the Americas immediately position PrendeTV to be the leader in free and premium video streaming in Spanish among Hispanics in the United States and provides our advertisers with a new way to reach large-scale audiences through a platform specifically designed for Hispanic consumers."
Rafael Urbina, CEO of Vix, will join Univision as general manager/executive vice president of Digital Media. Many other members of Vix's leadership will make the transition to Univision, the company said.
“We created a digital streaming company with the commitment to offer cultural relevance and the best streaming capacity to Latino audiences,” said Urbina. “Now we have the opportunity to fulfill that mission with the largest content company in Spanish, and I am very excited about what we can achieve together with the size and infrastructure of Univision.”
Univision has said that it plans to launch PrendeTV in the first quarter of 2021, but no official launch date has been announced.
