Univision and Hispanic immigrants
Univision is a prominent Spanish-language media company in the United States, founded in 1962 as the Spanish International Network. It operates television and radio stations, cable networks, and online services, making it a vital source of information and entertainment for Hispanic Americans and Spanish-speaking immigrants. The network has played a significant role in connecting these communities to their cultural roots through programming that includes content from Televisa, which helps immigrants from Mexico and Central America feel more at home in the U.S.
Univision has also been an advocate for social issues affecting the Hispanic community, mobilizing voters and raising awareness about immigration policies. Its public service campaigns, such as the acclaimed "Ya Es Hora," aim to educate and encourage Hispanic participation in civic matters. The company has faced challenges, including opposition to negative portrayals of Hispanic immigrants in political discourse, exemplified by its response to former President Trump's comments and actions.
As of 2022, Univision remains a leading force among Spanish-language networks, reaching a vast majority of Hispanic households in the U.S. Its influence extends beyond entertainment, as it is a critical platform for political engagement and community advocacy among Hispanic immigrants.
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Subject Terms
Univision and Hispanic immigrants
Identification: Spanish-language media company
Date: Founded in 1962 as the Spanish International Network
Also known as: Univision Communications Incorporated
Significance:The leading Spanish-language media company in the United States, Univision operates radio and television stations and cable networks and has recorded music and Internet divisions. Its services provide broad-based programming content that competes effectively with English-language media, providing important sources of information and entertainment for Hispanic Americans and Spanish-speaking immigrants.
Univision began in 1962 as the Spanish International Network (SIN) through the facilities of flagship station KWEX-TV, San Antonio, Texas. During that same year, KMEX-TV in Los Angeles, went on the air, followed by other SIN-owned and operated stations to form the first foreign-language broadcast television network in the United States.
As SIN was partly foreign owned, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ordered its sale in 1986. Hallmark Cards bought the network, changed its name to Univision, and developed programming to attract a broader national audience, while still addressing Hispanic viewers. In 1992, Hallmark sold Univision to an American-Venezuelan-Mexican consortium. In 2006, the network again went on sale. The private equity investors Broadcast Media Partners, Incorporated, purchased it the following year. Since then, Univision Communications, Inc., has been headquartered in New York City, and its primary television production center has been located in Miami, Florida.
Following the example of other national networks that owned multiple services, Univision launched and acquired media properties providing new markets, the first of which was America’s first Spanish-language cable service, Galavision Network, with was launched in 1979. The Univision Online division was launched in 2000, creating Univision.com., which would become the most frequently accessed Spanish-language site on the World Wide Web. In 2008, the division was renamed Univision Interactive Media, which added Univision Movil to deliver mobile interactive content.
In 2002, Univision acquired USA Broadcasting, along with its thirteen broadcast television stations, to form a second Spanish-language television service called TeleFutura Network that reached more than 85 percent of all US Hispanic households. In 2003, Univision acquired Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation and established Univision Radio, the largest Spanish-language radio group in America, with more than seventy radio stations that reached about 75 percent of the U.S. Hispanic population, as well as Puerto Rico.
By the early twenty-first century, Univision Network was maintaining an audience-share advantage over its main competitor, Telemundo, largely through imported programming produced in Mexico by Televisa, the world’s largest producer of Spanish-language television shows. Televisa’s long-term arrangement to supply programs to Univision has served as an important cultural link between Mexican immigrants in the United States and their homeland. Central American immigrants are also familiar with Televisa programs broadcast on Univision. Access to familiar television programming has helped Latin American immigrants adjust to life in the United States.
As a multimedia conglomerate reaching millions of people, Univision has also helped to promote voter education and raise awareness of immigration issues. Together with other Spanish-language media, Univision has played an activist role by mobilizing Hispanics to social action. In 1994, when California’s Proposition 187 went on the ballot to limit government benefits for undocumented immigrants, Univision contributed $100,000 to oppose the measure. In 2006, a group of activists enlisted Univision and other Hispanic broadcasters to help mobilize more than five hundred thosuand people in a peaceful national protest against proposed federal immigration policy reforms.
In 2008, Univision received a prestigious Peabody Award for its Ya Es Hora (it’s time) public service campaign, an effort to inform, educate and motivate Hispanic participation in citizenship and political matters. The campaign included public service announcements that encouraged eligible permanent legal residents to apply for US citizenship and supported get-out-the-vote efforts.
Since beginning his run for the Republican nomination for the presidency in 2015, Donald Trump has maintained a strong stance against Mexican immigrants; arguing that most Mexican immigrants are criminals and even rapists, he proposed building a great wall along the Mexican border at Mexico's expense. By June, Univision had canceled its planned telecast of the Miss America USA pageant, which was then partially owned by Trump, in order to defend the Hispanic community; Trump later filed a lawsuit against the conglomerate. In early 2016, Univision announced that it would be initiating another nationwide advertising campaign on both radio and television to get approximately three thousand more Latino voters registered for the upcoming presidential election.
Bibliography
Cambridge, Vibert C. Immigration, Diversity, and Broadcasting in the United States, 1990–2001. Ohio UP, 2005.
Corasaniti, Nick. "Univision Aims to Make Hispanic Voting Bloc Even More Formidable." New York Times, 22 Feb. 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/02/23/us/politics/univision-hispanic-voting.html. Accessed 17 Oct. 2016.
Nuñez, Luis V., ed. Spanish Language Media After the Univision-Hispanic Broadcasting. Novinka, 2006.
Rodriguez, America. Making Latino News. Sage, 1999.
Rodriguez, Clara. Latin Looks: Images of Latinas and Latinos in the U.S. Media. Westview, 1997.