History Creator / Univision

* '''Univision Deportes/Televisa Deportes Network''', another 2012-launched cable network which serves as Univision's attempt to compete with Creator/{{ESPN}} and Fox Deportes, and has already done very well thanks to their focus on the Mexican Premier League and other Latin American sports rights neglected by Fox and ESPN (which along with Al Jazeera's [=BeIn=] Sports, all focus more on Euro-Asian football than Latin America), or bungled by [=GolTV=].
* '''Univision Noticias''', an eventual [[TwentyFourHourNewsNetworks 24-hour news channel]] which will compete with CNN en Español, though the focus has gone more to...

[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/univision_2013_logo_873.png]]
[[caption-width-right:200:''Todos estamos con Univision.''[[note]]We are all with Univision.[[/note]]]]

Univision is the oldest and largest Spanish-language television {{network|s}} in the United States, the fifth most-watched network in the United States when counted among the English-language networks, and perhaps one of the most high-profile, profitable, and longest-lasting symbols of Latino/Hispanic culture within the United States. Its origins trace back to KCOR (now KWEX-DT, Channel 41), the first all-Spanish-language television station airing within the US, which went on the air in 1955 in [[UsefulNotes/OtherCitiesInTexas San Antonio, Texas]]. Failing to turn a profit, KCOR would soon fall under the ownership of one Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta, founder of the Mexican network Creator/{{Televisa}}, and Emilio Nicolas Sr., the son-in-law of KCOR's founder Raul Cortez, and producer of some of the station's {{variety show}}s.

Univision still gets much of its programming, including most of its telenovelas, from Creator/{{Televisa}}, though in the past several years, relations between the two networks have been strained due to what Televisa sees as [[{{Bowdlerise}} unnecessary censorship]] of its shows by Univision. Much of this has to do with the fact that, in addition to Spanish obscenities, Univision also filters out words that have no negative connotations in [[UsefulNotes/SpanishLanguage Spanish]] [[InMyLanguageThatSoundsLike but may be considered obscene in English and other languages]], or by other Latin American nations (for instance, what might be a comparatively-mild expletive in Mexico not worthy for bleeping could easily be offensive to someone with heritage in Venezuela or Honduras).

In 2022, Univision merged with Televisa's content assets to form [=TelevisaUnivision=] and converted its [=PrendeTV=] service into [=ViX=].

Univision is the oldest and largest Spanish-language television {{network|s}} in the United States, the fifth most-watched network in the United States when counted among the English-language networks, and perhaps one of the most high-profile, profitable, and longest-lasting symbols of Latino/Hispanic culture within the United States. Its origins trace back to KCOR (now KWEX-DT, Channel 41), the first all-Spanish-language television station airing within the US, which went on the air in 1955 in [[UsefulNotes/OtherCitiesInTexas San Antonio, Texas]]. Failed to turn a profit, KCOR would soon fall under the ownership of one Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta, founder of the Mexican network Creator/{{Televisa}}, and Emilio Nicolas Sr., the son-in-law of KCOR's founder Raul Cortez, and producer of some of the station's {{variety show}}s.

* '''Univision Noticias''', an eventual [[TwentyFourHourNewsNetworks 24-hour news channel]] which will compete with CNN en Espanol, though the focus has gone more to...

Univision is the oldest and largest Spanish-language TV {{network|s}} in the United States, the #5 network when counted among the English-language networks, and perhaps one of the most high-profile symbols of the growth of Latino/Hispanic culture in the United States. Its origins trace back to KCOR (now KWEX-DT), the first Spanish television station in the US, which went on the air in 1955 in [[UsefulNotes/OtherCitiesInTexas San Antonio, Texas]]. KCOR failed to turn a profit, and the station quickly fell under the ownership of Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta, founder of the Mexican network Creator/{{Televisa}}, and Emilio Nicolas Sr., the son-in-law of KCOR's founder Raul Cortez and producer of some of the station's {{variety show}}s.

After acquiring KCOR, Nicolas and Vidaurreta turned the station around. In 1962 they made KCOR, along with stations in UsefulNotes/LosAngeles (KMEX) and Paterson, UsefulNotes/NewJersey (WXTV), the nucleus of the new Spanish International Network, the US' first all-Spanish TV network. The unfortunately-named SIN expanded into UsefulNotes/{{Miami}}, UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} and across the western US over the next couple of decades, and made it onto cable and satellite systems during TheSeventies in order to gain a national reach. SIN soon became the largest Spanish-language TV network in the US, thanks at least in part to its close relationship with the Mexican media powerhouse Televisa, which Vidaurreta also owned.

In 1987, Nicolas sold his share of the network, leaving it firmly in the hands of Vidaurreta and Televisa. This prompted the FCC to investigate whether SIN's relationship with Televisa skirted the boundaries of media ownership laws, as many of SIN's competitors were alleging. That same year, Televisa's management's [[ExecutiveMeddling attempted]] to have SIN produce and broadcast a news program with Jacobo Zabludosky out of Miami, which caused half of the Miami staff (many of them [[SeriousBusiness Cuban exiles]]) to walk out in protest of what they saw as [[BerserkButton Zabludosky's soft views on Castro's Cuba]]. The end result was Televisa selling its share of SIN - now renamed Univision - to an American consortium led by Hallmark Cards, which had previously purchased some of Nicolas' share in the network.

The ink was barely dry off the deal when Univision created three of its most defining programs: the morning show ''Mundo Latino'' (''Latino World''), Chilean TV personality Don Francisco's frantic, [[LongRunners long-running]] VarietyShow ''Sábado Gigante'' (''Big Saturday''), and the women's TV news magazine ''TV Mujer'' (''Woman TV''). Starting in 1993, under the stewardship of new owner Jerry Perenchio, its designs grew to a national scale, and it expanded and revamped its once-moribund news operations. KMEX, the Los Angeles O&O station that provided two-fifths of the network's revenue at the time, made history by becoming the first Spanish-language TV station to outperform the English-language stations. Such instances would become less anomalous as time went by -- it overtook Creator/{{UPN}} and Creator/TheWB ''nationally'' in the early 2000s, becoming the fifth-largest network overall, and in September 2010 it won the entire week on the strength of a popular [[SoapOpera telenovela's]] finale and a UsefulNotes/PrimeTime Mexico/Ecuador soccer match. The fact that the English networks were still burning off their summer programming also helped.

Univision still gets much of its programming, including most of its telenovelas, from Creator/{{Televisa}}, though in the past several years relations between the two networks have been strained due to what Televisa sees as [[{{Bowdlerise}} unnecessary censorship]] of its shows by Univision. Much of this has to do with the fact that, in addition to Spanish obscenities, Univision also filters out words that have no negative connotations in [[UsefulNotes/SpanishLanguage Spanish]] [[InMyLanguageThatSoundsLike but are considered obscene in English and other languages]], or by other Latin American nations (for instance, what might be a mild curse word in Mexico not worthy for bleeping could easily be offensive to someone with heritage in Venezuela or Honduras).

In 2008, Univision created a Saturday morning block, Planeta U, which airs (Spanish-dubbed) programs like ''WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer'', ''WesternAnimation/GoDiegoGo'', ''WesternAnimation/JakersTheAdventuresOfPiggleyWinks'', and ''Series/BeakmansWorld''.

* '''El Rey Network''', a joint venture between Creator/RobertRodriguez, Univision, and Cox Communications (Collectively known as "El Netwarko Groupo") focusing on grindhouse-style content. It is best known for original series such as ''Series/FromDuskTillDawn'' and ''Wrestling/LuchaUnderground''. The network has been likened to a Hispanic-targeting Creator/SpikeTV, back when it was fixated on action shows and movies.

!!The SIN/Televisa era (1962-1986)

In 1986, Nicolas sold his share of the network, leaving it firmly in the hands of Vidaurreta and Televisa. This prompted the FCC to investigate whether SIN's relationship with Televisa skirted the boundaries of media ownership laws, as many of SIN's competitors were alleging. That same year, Televisa's management's [[ExecutiveMeddling attempted]] to have SIN produce and broadcast a news program with Jacobo Zabludosky out of Miami, which caused half of the Miami staff (many of them [[SeriousBusiness Cuban exiles]]) to walk out in protest of what they saw as [[BerserkButton Zabludosky's soft views on Castro's Cuba]]. The end result was Televisa selling its share of SIN - now renamed Univision - to an American consortium led by Hallmark Cards, which had previously purchased some of Nicolas' share in the network.

!!The Univision era (1986-present)

** The '''Fusion Media Group''' was formed after ABC abandoned Fusion. After a lawsuit by Wrestling/HulkHogan that all but destroyed the company, Univision acquired most of the '''Gawker Media''' blogs as well (including sites such as ''Kotaku'', ''Gizmodo'', ''Deadspin'', etc., but ''not'' its namesake) to increase its English-language footprint, aligning them within FMG as the '''Gizmodo Media Group'''. Univision also acquired a stake in ''Website/TheOnion'' and its entertainment site ''The A.V. Club'', as well as the online African-American magazine ''The Root''. All of these websites were also switched to the same format and platform formerly used by Gawker. Fusion's online editorial efforts were also spun out from the channel and into this division under the new title ''Splinter''.
* '''El Rey Network''', a joint venture between Creator/RobertRodriguez, Univision, and Cox Communications focusing on grindhouse-style content. It is best known for the original series ''Series/FromDuskTillDawn'' and ''Wrestling/LuchaUnderground''. The network has been likened to a hispanic Creator/SpikeTV, back when it was fixated on action shows and movies.

In 1986, Nicolas sold his share of the network, leaving it firmly in the hands of Vidaurreta and Televisa. This prompted the FCC to investigate whether SIN's relationship with Televisa skirted the boundaries of media ownership laws, as many of SIN's competitors were alleging. That same year, Televisa's management's [[ExecutiveMeddling attempted]] to have SIN produce and broadcast a news program with Jacobo Zabludosky out of Miami, which caused half of the Miami staff (many of them [[SeriousBusiness Cuban exiles]]) to walk out in protest of what they saw as [[BerserkButton Zabludosky's soft views on Castro's Cuba]]. The end result was Televisa selling its share of SIN (now renamed Univision) to an American consortium led by Hallmark Cards, which had previously purchased some of Nicolas' share in the network.

The ink was barely dry off the deal when Univision created three of its most defining programs: the morning show ''Mundo Latino'' (''Latino World''), Chilean TV personality Don Francisco's frantic, [[LongRunners long-running]] VarietyShow ''Sábado Gigante'' (''Big Saturday''), and the women's TV news magazine ''TV Mujer'' (''Woman TV''). Starting in 1993, under the stewardship of new owner Jerry Perenchio, its designs grew to a national scale, and it expanded and revamped its once-moribund news operations. KMEX, the Los Angeles O&O station that provided two-fifths of the network's revenue at the time, made history by becoming the first Spanish-language TV station to outperform the English-language stations. Such instances would become less anomalous as time went by -- it overtook Creator/{{UPN}} and Creator/TheWB ''nationally'' in the early 2000s, becoming the fifth-largest network overall, and in September 2010 it won the entire week on the strength of a popular [[SoapOpera telenovela's]] finale and a UsefulNotes/PrimeTime Mexico/Ecuador soccer match. (The fact that the English networks were still burning off their summer programming also helped.)

* '''Fusion''', an English-language effort (formerly co-managed with Creator/{{ABC}}) which doesn't have the usual 'breaking news and pundit fight' format of the regular news networks, but serves to bring information in a compelling format to younger viewers regardless of race or language, along with original news programming. Univision anchor Jorge Ramos has his own show on the network. Rather than CNN or Fox News, Fusion probably competed more with the defunct Pivot for that type of news audience as their focus is more on commentary or documentary (and even comedic) programming than reporting or debate.
* After a lawsuit by ProfessionalWrestling/HulkHogan that all but destroyed the company, Univision acquired most of the '''Gawker Media''' blogs as well (including sites such as ''Kotaku'', ''Gizmodo'', ''Deadspin'', etc., but ''not'' its namesake) to increase its English-language footprint, aligning them alongside Fusion as '''Gizmodo Media Group'''. Univision also acquired a stake in ''Website/TheOnion'' and its entertainment site ''The A.V. Club'', as well as the online African-American magazine ''The Root''. All of these websites were also switched to the same format and platform formerly used by Gawker. Fusion's online editorial efforts were also spun out from the channel and into this division under the new title ''Splinter''.

* After a lawsuit by ProfessionalWrestling/HulkHogan that all but destroyed the company, Univision acquired most of the '''Gawker Media''' blogs as well (including sites such as ''Kotaku'', ''Gizmodo'', ''Deadspin'', etc., but ''not'' its namesake) to increase its English-language footprint, aligning them alongside Fusion as '''Gizmodo Media Group'''. Univision also acquired a stake in ''Website/TheOnion'' and its entertainment site ''The A.V. Club'', as well as the online African-American magazine ''The Root''. All of these websites were also switched to the same format and platform formerly used by Gawker.

After acquiring KCOR, Nicolas and Vidaurreta turned the station around. In 1962 they made KCOR, along with stations in UsefulNotes/LosAngeles (KMEX) and Paterson, UsefulNotes/NewJersey (WXTV), the nucleus of the new Spanish International Network, the US' first all-Spanish TV network. The unfortunately-named SIN expanded into UsefulNotes/{{Miami}}, [[TheWindyCity Chicago]] and across the western US over the next couple of decades, and made it onto cable and satellite systems during TheSeventies in order to gain a national reach. SIN soon became the largest Spanish-language TV network in the US, thanks at least in part to its close relationship with the Mexican media powerhouse Televisa, which Vidaurreta also owned.

* '''Fusion''', an English-language effort co-managed by Univision and Creator/{{ABC}} which doesn't have the usual 'breaking news and pundit fight' format of the regular news networks, but serves to bring information in a compelling format to younger viewers regardless of race or language, along with original news programming. Univision anchor Jorge Ramos has his own show on the network. Rather than CNN or Fox News, Fusion probably competes more with Pivot for that type of news audience as their focus is more on commentary or documentary (and even comedic) programming than reporting or debate.

After acquiring KCOR, Nicolas and Vidaurreta turned the station around. In 1962 they made KCOR, along with stations in UsefulNotes/LosAngeles (KMEX) and Paterson, UsefulNotes/NewJersey (WXTV), the nucleus of the new Spanish International Network, the US' first all-Spanish TV network. The unfortunately-named SIN expanded into {{Miami}}, [[TheWindyCity Chicago]] and across the western US over the next couple of decades, and made it onto cable and satellite systems during TheSeventies in order to gain a national reach. SIN soon became the largest Spanish-language TV network in the US, thanks at least in part to its close relationship with the Mexican media powerhouse Televisa, which Vidaurreta also owned.

[[caption-width-right:200:''Todos estamos con Univision.''[[note]]We are all Univision.[[/note]]]]

Univision still gets much of its programming, including most of its telenovelas, from Creator/{{Televisa}}, though in the past several years relations between the two networks have been strained due to what Televisa sees as [[{{Bowdlerise}} unnecessary censorship]] of its shows by Univision. Much of this has to do with the fact that, in addition to Spanish obscenities, Univision also filters out words that have no negative connotations in [[SpanishLanguage Spanish]] [[InMyLanguageThatSoundsLike but are considered obscene in English and other languages]], or by other Latin American nations (for instance, what might be a mild curse word in Mexico not worthy for bleeping could easily be offensive to someone with heritage in Venezuela or Honduras).

The ink was barely dry off the deal when Univision created three of its most defining programs: the morning show ''Mundo Latino'' (''Latino World''), Chilean TV personality Don Francisco's frantic, [[LongRunners long-running]] VarietyShow ''Sábado Gigante'' (''Big Saturday''), and the women's TV news magazine ''TV Mujer'' (''Woman TV''). Starting in 1993, under the stewardship of new owner Jerry Perenchio, its designs grew to a national scale, and it expanded and revamped its once-moribund news operations. KMEX, the Los Angeles O&O station that provided two-fifths of the network's revenue at the time, made history by becoming the first Spanish-language TV station to outperform the English-language stations. Such instances would become less anomalous as time went by -- it overtook Creator/{{UPN}} and Creator/TheWB ''nationally'' in the early 2000s, becoming the fifth-largest network overall, and in September 2010 it won the entire week on the strength of a popular [[SoapOpera telenovela's]] finale and a PrimeTime Mexico/Ecuador soccer match. (The fact that the English networks were still burning off their summer programming also helped.)

Univision still gets much of its programming, including most of its telenovelas, from {{Televisa}}, though in the past several years relations between the two networks have been strained due to what Televisa sees as [[{{Bowdlerise}} unnecessary censorship]] of its shows by Univision. Much of this has to do with the fact that, in addition to Spanish obscenities, Univision also filters out words that have no negative connotations in [[SpanishLanguage Spanish]] [[InMyLanguageThatSoundsLike but are considered obscene in English and other languages]], or by other Latin American nations (for instance, what might be a mild curse word in Mexico not worthy for bleeping could easily be offensive to someone with heritage in Venezuela or Honduras).

Univision is the oldest and largest Spanish-language TV {{network|s}} in the United States, the #5 network when counted among the English-language networks, and perhaps one of the most high-profile symbols of the growth of Latino/Hispanic culture in the United States. Its origins trace back to KCOR (now KWEX-DT), the first Spanish television station in the US, which went on the air in 1955 in [[UsefulNotes/OtherCitiesInTexas San Antonio, Texas]]. KCOR failed to turn a profit, and the station quickly fell under the ownership of Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta, founder of the Mexican network {{Televisa}}, and Emilio Nicolas Sr., the son-in-law of KCOR's founder Raul Cortez and producer of some of the station's {{variety show}}s.

After acquiring KCOR, Nicolas and Vidaurreta turned the station around. In 1962 they made KCOR, along with stations in UsefulNotes/LosAngeles (KMEX) and [[{{Joisey}} Paterson, New Jersey]] (WXTV), the nucleus of the new Spanish International Network, the US' first all-Spanish TV network. The unfortunately-named SIN expanded into {{Miami}}, [[TheWindyCity Chicago]] and across the western US over the next couple of decades, and made it onto cable and satellite systems during TheSeventies in order to gain a national reach. SIN soon became the largest Spanish-language TV network in the US, thanks at least in part to its close relationship with the Mexican media powerhouse Televisa, which Vidaurreta also owned.

[[quoteright:327:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/univision_2013_logo_873.png]]
[[caption-width-right:327:''Todos estamos con Univision.''[[note]]We are all Univision.[[/note]]]]

[[caption-width-right:200:''Todos estamos con Univision.''[[note]]We are all Univision.[[/note]]]]

The ink was barely dry off the deal when Univision created three of its most defining programs: the morning show ''Mundo Latino'' (''Latino World''), Chilean TV personality Don Francisco's frantic, [[LongRunners long-running]] VarietyShow ''Sábado Gigante'' (''Big Saturday''), and the women's TV news magazine ''TV Mujer'' (''Woman TV''). Starting in 1993, under the stewardship of new owner Jerry Perenchio, its designs grew to a national scale, and it expanded and revamped its once-moribund news operations. KMEX, the Los Angeles O&O station that provided two-fifths of the network's revenue at the time, made history by becoming the first Spanish-language TV station to outperform the English-language stations. Such instances would become less anomalous as time went by -- it overtook {{UPN}} and TheWB ''nationally'' in the early 2000s, becoming the fifth-largest network overall, and in September 2010 it won the entire week on the strength of a popular [[SoapOpera telenovela's]] finale and a PrimeTime Mexico/Ecuador soccer match. (The fact that the English networks were still burning off their summer programming also helped.)

* In 2000, Univision bid for the broadcast stations of Creator/USANetwork, a chain of stations which formerly aired nothing but the Home Shopping Network but by then were airing a local form of {{Toronto}}'s [=CityTV=], though their 50-69 channel positions and surrounding programming provided a drain on USA itself. Disney was expected to win the stations when they were put up for sale, but Univision's bid was better. Though a few stations in markets where Univision didn't have an affiliate converted to the main network, the rest, along with other affiliates which came on, formed into a second Univision network known as '''Telefutura''', which came into existence as a vault network for Univision's most enduring novelas, and for a way for Univision to snap up Spanish-dubbed Hollywood film rights usually grabbed by Telemundo during their Sony-owned DorkAge, along with airing more sports that might not rate well on the main network but do good enough for the diehards. It was rebranded as '''[=UniMas=]''' ("mas" means "more") in 2013, and pretty much matches Telemundo in the ratings.

* '''Univision Deportes/Televisa Deportes Network''', another 2012-launched cable network which serves as Univision's attempt to compete with ESPN and Fox Deportes, and has already done very well thanks to their focus on the Mexican Premier League and other Latin American sports rights neglected by Fox and ESPN (which along with Al Jazeera's [=BeIn=] Sports, all focus more on Euro-Asian football than Latin America), or bungled by [=GolTV=].

* '''Fusion''', an English-language effort co-managed by Univision and {{Creator/ABC}} which doesn't have the usual 'breaking news and pundit fight' format of the regular news networks, but serves to bring information in a compelling format to younger viewers regardless of race or language, along with original news programming. Univision anchor Jorge Ramos has his own show on the network. Rather than CNN or Fox News, Fusion probably competes more with Pivot for that type of news audience as their focus is more on commentary or documentary (and even comedic) programming than reporting or debate.

* In 2000, Univision bid for the broadcast stations of Creator/USANetwork, a chain of stations which formerly aired nothing but the Home Shopping Network but by then were airing a local form of {{Toronto}}'s [=CityTV=], though their 50-69 channel positions and surrounding programming provided a drain on USA itself. Disney was expected to win the stations when they were put up for sale, but Univision's bid was better. Though a few stations in markets where Univision didn't have an affiliate converted to the main network, the rest, along with other affiliates which came on, formed into a second Univision network known as '''Telefutura''', which came into existence as a vault network for Univision's most enduring novelas, and for a way for Univision to snap up Spanish-dubbed Hollywood film rights usually grabbed by Telemundo during their Sony-owned DorkAge, along with airing more sports that might not rate well on the main network but do good enough for the diehards. It was rebranded as '''[=UniMas=]''' (Univision More) in 2013, and pretty much matches Telemundo in the ratings.

* '''Univision Deportes/Televisa Deportes Network''', another 2012-launched cable network which serves as Univision's attempt to compete with ESPN and Fox Deportes and has already done very well thanks to their focus on the Mexican Premier League and other Latin American sports rights neglected by Fox and ESPN (which along with [=BeIn=] Sports, all focus more on Euro-Asian football than Latin America), or bungled by [=GolTV=].

[[caption-width-right:327:''Todos estamos con Univision.''[[note]]We are all Univision.[[/note]]]]

[[quoteright:327:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Univision_logo_2413.jpg]]

Univision still gets much of its programming, including most of its telenovelas, from {{Televisa}}, though in the past several years relations between the two networks have been strained due to what Televisa sees as [[{{Bowdlerise}} unnecessary censorship]] of its shows by Univision. Much of this has to do with the fact that, in addition to Spanish obscenities, Univision also filters out words that have no negative connotations in [[SpanishLanguage Spanish]] [[InMyLanguageThatSoundsLike but are considered obscene in English and other languages]].