Univision today announced it acquired ad-supported streaming service VIX as part of an effort to boost and accelerate growth of its own soon-to-launch streaming service PrendeTV, first revealed in mid-January.
As part of the deal, VIX employees and executive leadership will join Univision.
VIX CEO Rafael Urbina will continue to lead the acquired team in the newly created position of Univision General Manager/Executive Vice President of AVOD Streaming.”
You can read more details about the VIX acquisition on Forbes.
Urbina began his media career at Multicanal TPS, where he led the launch of several pay-TV channels in Spain and Portugal. In 1999, he moved into the digital media space, launching Planeta Networks, before becoming CEO of Batanga Media in 2006.
In 2017, he led the strategic corporate and consumer rebrand of Batanga Media to VIX and closed a strategic investment with Discovery Communications. He led VIX’s entry into the OTT market in 2019 by securing the acquisition of Spanish-language streaming service Póngalo.
Below is a welcome message Univision CEO Wade Davis sent VIX employees.
Dear VIX Colleagues,
It’s my great pleasure to welcome you to the Univision team.
Today marks an important milestone in the trajectory of our companies and reflects our tremendous respect for what you have built– a platform that reaches millions of consumers as the largest ad supported streaming service for U.S. Hispanics and users in Latin America.
Your talent, experience, and the great product you have built will significantly contribute to the future transformation of Univision as we seek to build the most comprehensive ad-supported streaming offering ever amassed for Latino audiences. VIX is an important and strategic part of these efforts.
VIX will immediately strategically expand Univision’s streaming portfolio, including the recently announced free AVOD service PrendeTV that will debut in the first quarter and feature free, premium 100% Spanish-language programming. Together, PrendeTV and VIX will be able to offer to consumers more than 30,000 hours, and growing, of ad-supported video-on-demand content.
I want to thank Rafael Urbina, Manuel Borges, Natalia Borges, Richard Hull, Carlos Luchsinger, Ricardo Rodriguez, Sebastian Trujillo, Enor Paiano, Sergio Remolina, Maria De Jesus Tapia Reyes, and Matias Almiron, for their fine leadership and congratulate the entire VIX team, a world-class organization at the vanguard of the video streaming revolution. You can read more about today’s news in the press release.
I am confident that together we will build market-defining products and accelerate growth. I look forward to meeting you and working with you all.
Best,
Wade Davis
Chief Executive Officer
Univision Communications, Inc.