Univision’s New Image: Star of the Party

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Univision Communications Inc.’s new owners threw a coming-out party here Wednesday that made clear that the Spanish-language network has bid adios to its tight-lipped ways, the Los Angels Times reports.


For the first time in 15 years, a Univision chief executive personally addressed the crowd of advertisers that gathered in New York for network television’s annual upfront meetings. The network’s goal was to woo advertisers who were looking to spend hundreds of millions of dollars.

“This morning marks the start of something new,” Chief Executive Joe Uva said in the gleaming Time Warner Center in midtown Manhattan.


In fact, the biggest buzz surrounding Univision’s presentation wasn’t the plunging necklines, stiletto heels or bulging biceps of its hot young stars. Nor was it that Univision is now the fifth-largest network in the U.S., behind CBS, Fox, ABC and NBC.


Rather, it was Univision’s public transformation in the wake of its $12.3-billion sale in late April to an investment group whose partners include Saban Capital Group, Providence Equity Partners and Texas Pacific Group.


Univision’s previous chairman and CEO, Bel-Air billionaire A. Jerrold Perenchio, shunned the spotlight and forced his executives to do likewise. But, Uva said, that closed-mouth culture meant the company wasn’t singing its praises enough, which in turn made it harder to grab its fair share of the advertising pie.


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