TelevisaUnivision and Disney are getting closer in an era when more media companies are eager to strike new alliances to put their streaming offerings in front of bigger groups of consumers.
The Spanish-language giant will gain access to Disney’s Hulu+Live service, which will feature U.S. networks including Univision, UniMás, TUDN and Galavisión on its core channel line-up starting June 3. will launch on the Hulu+ Live TV core channel line-up on June 3. Additionally, TelevisaUnivision channels including N+FORO, tlNovelas, Bandamax, De Película, De Película Clásico, Telehit and Telehit Música will later be added to the Español add-on for Hulu + Live TV subscribers.
Also starting in early June, the companies will sell a bundle of the Spanish-language streamer ViX and Disney+ in Mexico.
“TelevisaUnivision is the top producer of Spanish-language content in the world, and this deal underscores two critically important elements: our portfolio is a main anchor for any pay TV distributor — without TelevisaUnivision, there is no complete pay-tv offering; and our direct-to-consumer business continues to break boundaries as ViX further strengthens its powerful connection to Hispanics around the world,” said Rafael Urbina, president of streaming and digital at TelevisaUnivision, in a statement.
Many large media companies are striking unorthodox partnerships in a bid to gain wider acceptance for their streaming services, now see by many CEOs as a key to growth at a time when usage of traditional linear TV is in decline. Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery in 2024, for example, launched a bundle that included Disney+, Hulu and Max. These agreements suggest that consumers will gravitate to larger streaming packages that bring them broader access to content at a reasonable price, rather than paying for multiple services on an a la carte basis. Such a model evokes, oddly enough, the arrangement consumers have with cable distributors.
“This new partnership allows us to strategically build upon our current channel offering and Spanish-language content available on Hulu + Live TV, while providing subscribers in Mexico with a meaningful opportunity to access” both Disney and TelevisaUnivision content in a single package, said Lauren Tempest, general manager of Hulu and executive vice president of direct-to-consumer content partnerships, in a statement.
