Univision, Televisa Merge Into Spanish TV Giant

Two giants of Spanish-language media are both exclaiming “gooooooooool!” today.

Univision has agreed to acquire Televisa at a value of $4.8 billion, including $3 billion in cash and $1.5 billion in Univision equity. Televisa’s share of Univision will grow to 45% from 36%. The new entity will be called Televisa-Univision.

Univision, which merged its sports division with Televisa’s in 2019, is a dominant broadcaster in North American Spanish-language sports.

• Univision has extensive soccer coverage, including Copa America, the Mexican League, Copa MX, and Liga MX.
• Univision partners with NFL and MLB teams to provide Spanish TV and radio game broadcasts.
• Earlier this month, Univision signed a five-year deal with Hispanic mixed martial arts franchise Combate Americas.

With 61 television stations and 58 radio stations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, Univision has largely focused on those traditional broadcast media, but the new deal hints at a push into streaming, which is more of a focus for Televisa.

The deal involves some well-known financial players: It will be financed by SoftBank Latin American Fund, with participation from Google and the Raine Group. J.P. Morgan Chase arranged $2.1 billion in debt commitments. SoftBank said it would leverage its tech ecosystem to grow Televisa-Univision’s capabilities as a multi-platform media provider.

Shares of Grupo Televisa SAB shot up by roughly 37% after the news broke.