THE strongest selling-point for Univision is that it is the most popular Spanish-language broadcaster in America, where the Hispanic population is young, 57m-strong and growing. However, the company is heavily in debt, and losing both money and viewers. What is more, it is going for an initial public offering at a time when shares in several of America’s main English-language broadcasters are being savaged, amid worries about the future of the television business, not to mention general stockmarket turmoil.
The company’s flagship Univision network is available in 92% of Hispanic households in the United States. With its mix of telenovelas and other light entertainment, it has 13 of the country’s top 20 prime-time shows in Spanish. The group’s Univision Deportes network is the most-watched Spanish-language sports channel on cable, and it has local television stations in most of America’s biggest markets.
However, a leveraged buy-out in 2007 led by Haim Saban, an American-Israeli entrepreneur, has left it with so much debt that it struggles to turn a profit. It now owes $10....
from The Economist: Business http://ift.tt/1NcGieJ
No comments:
Post a Comment