Univision, fresh off the closing of its sale to new owners and installing a new senior management team, is launching a new foray into the streaming wars.
The Hispanic media company announced plans to launch PrendeTV, which it says will be the only streaming service aimed at a U.S. Latino audience with free, ad-supported Spanish-language programming. PrendeTV is set to debut later in the first quarter of 2020 with 30-plus channels and 10,000 hours of on-demand programming.
PrendeTV (prende.tv) will comprise Spanish-language movies and TV series, including novelas, comedies, classic sports, documentaries, lifestyle shows and children’s programming. The service will be the exclusive streaming home for a range of programming drawn from Univision and Televisa’s libraries.
“PrendeTV is 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,” Univision CEO Wade Davis said in a statement. “PrendeTV is unlike anything our audience has access to today and will completely change the landscape for video streaming in Spanish-language media in the United States.”
Univision didn’t announce specific titles that will be available in PrendeTV, but a screenshot showing a mock-up of the service listed “Amar a Muerte,” “La Rosa de Guadalupe,” Gordon Ramsay’s “Hell’s Kitchen,” “Strawberry Shortcake,” and “Walking Tall” in the the service’s guide:
Ad sales for PrendeTV (which translates to “turn on TV”) will be led by Donna Speciale, the former WarnerMedia exec who was named Univision’s president of advertising sales and marketing.
“With the launch of PrendeTV we are focused on bringing new ways for our advertisers to reach the U.S. Hispanic audience,” Davis said, adding that the ad-supported VOD service also “will be a critical part of our strategy to grow the scope of our business partnerships with our key distributors.”
PrendeTV will will be available at launch on the web and via free mobile and connected-TV apps, with distribution partners to be announced at a later date.