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UniMás

UniMás (Spanish pronunciation: [ˌuniˈmas], stylized as UNIMÁS, and originally known as TeleFutura from its launch on January 14, 2002, to January 6, 2013) is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. The network's programming, which is aimed at Hispanic Americans in the 18–34 age range, includes telenovelas and other serialized drama series, sports, sitcoms, reruns of imported series previously aired on parent network Univision, reality and variety series, and theatrically released feature films (primarily consisting of Spanish-dubbed versions of American movie releases).

"TeleFutura" redirects here. For the Paraguayan television network, see Telefuturo.

Type

United States

U.S. coverage: 61%[1]

Spanish

January 14, 2002 (2002-01-14) (as TeleFutura)

CityVision (June 8, 1998–January 13, 2002)

TeleFutura (January 14, 2002 – January 6, 2013)

The network is operated out of Univision's South Florida headquarters in the Miami suburb of Doral, Florida. Since its launch, the network has made major inroads in overall and demographic viewership, eventually ranking as the second highest-rated Spanish-language television network in key dayparts,[2] behind only sister network Univision, by 2012.


UniMás is available on cable and satellite television throughout most of the United States, with local stations in over 40 markets with large Hispanic and Latino populations. Most of these stations are pass-throughs for the network's main programming feed, offering limited to no exclusive local programming. Univision Communications chief operating officer Randy Falco has overseen the network's operations since his appointment in the position by the company on June 29, 2011.[3]

History[edit]

Origins[edit]

The network traces its origins to Barry Diller's November 1995 acquisition of the Home Shopping Network and its broadcasting arm Silver King Communications, which owned television stations affiliated with HSN in several larger media markets.[4][5][6] In June 1998, the renamed USA Broadcasting (which had been merged into the Diller-owned USA Networks in 1997) launched a customized independent station format, "CityVision", which infused syndicated programming – including a few produced by sister production unit Studios USA that also aired nationally on USA Network – with a limited amount of local entertainment and magazine programs (reminiscent of the format used by CITY-TV in Toronto and more prominently, its co-owned stations that became charter outlets of Citytv, when CHUM Limited expanded the format to other Canadian markets as a television system in 2002). USA's Miami outlet, WYHS-TV, served as the test station for the format, disaffiliating from HSN and converting into a general entertainment outlet under the new call letters WAMI-TV.[7]


By September 2000, USA Broadcasting had expanded the "CityVision" entertainment format to three of its thirteen other HSN outlets – with some of the stations adopting call letters referencing common nicknames for their home cities – WHOT-TV (now WUVG-DT) in Atlanta, KSTR-TV in DallasFort Worth and WHUB-TV (now WUTF-DT) in Boston. Before the group could carry out the proposed conversions of its other stations into independent stations, USA Networks announced that it would sell off its television station group in the summer of 2000, to focus on its cable network and television production properties. Among the prospective buyers for the thirteen-station group were The Walt Disney Company (which would have created duopolies with ABC owned-and-operated stations in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston) and Univision Communications (which would create duopolies with Univision owned-and-operated stations in those same four cities); the latter purchased the USA Broadcasting stations for $1.1 billion on December 7, 2000, with the sale being finalized on May 21, 2001.[8][9][10]

Related services[edit]

Video-on-demand services[edit]

UniMás provides video on demand access for delayed viewing of full episodes of the network's programming through various means, including via Hulu's Hulu Latino platform through a content deal with the service. The network also a traditional VOD service – UniMás on Demand – which is carried on most traditional cable and IPTV providers, which originally launched on February 1, 2011, as TeleFutura On Demand, and also offers the network's news programming, tape-delayed versions of its sports telecasts and feature film content alongside telenovelas.[54][55]


Due to restrictions imposed on the streaming service by Univision Communications, Hulu limits day-after-air streaming of newer episodes of UniMás' programs to subscribers of its subscription service until eight days after their initial broadcast, in order to encourage live or same-week (via both DVR and cable on demand) viewing. Like the video-on-demand television services provided by the other U.S. broadcast networks, UniMás on Demand disables fast forwarding for content provided through the service.

Controversies[edit]

Carriage disputes[edit]

On March 4, 2016, UniMás, along with its sister channels, Univision, Galavisión, TUDN and Univision tlnovelas were dropped by AT&T U-verse due to a carriage dispute.[69][70][71][72] This however, did not affect DirecTV customers, despite being a subsidiary of AT&T, as they were done on a separate deal. All of Univision's channels (including UniMás) were later returned to the U-verse lineup on March 24, 2016.[73][74][75][76]


On January 27, 2017, Charter Spectrum (along with Time Warner Cable and Bright House, the latter merged with Charter Communications on 2016) faced another dispute with Univision, warning Charter Communications that UniMas and its sister channels could be removed from Charter by January 31, 2017. Prior to then, Univision sued Charter over pay carriage rates at the New York Supreme Court in July 2016. On, January 31, Charter customers lost access to all of Univision's channels, including UniMás and Galavision. On February 2, the New York Superior Court ordered Univision to end the blackout on Charter as negotiations continue.[77] This blackout affects all Univision affiliates, even if Univision doesn't own them, so it included all stations owned by Entravision Communications, even if Entravision was not involved in the dispute.[78][79]

(in Spanish)

Official website