By: Veronica Villafañe
Fusion Media Group (FMG), a unit of Univision Communications, is expanding to Mexico, signing a deal with Grupo Televisa to launch a new Fusion branded 24-hour cable network in Spanish.
Televisa will operate Fusion MX, which will feature locally-produced programming targeting Mexican millennials, as well as local versions of shows originally developed for Fusion in the U.S. The new cable network will be distributed across several national providers reaching nearly 14 million Mexican households. The deal has the potential for additional distribution across Latin America.
“This partnership with Televisa allows us to continue to extend the reach of our brands internationally, across platforms, and in multiple languages,” said Felipe Holguín, CEO of Fusion Media Group.
The multi-platform agreement with Televisa covers digital and television, with the Mexican media giant acquiring a license to FMG’s brands and content from its digital publications. As part of the deal, Televisa will launch Mexican editions of former Gawker Media websites, which Univision acquired in a bankruptcy sale last year, including sports-focused Deadspin, tech-geared Gizmodo, car culture Jalopnik and female-driven Jezebel, among others.
“The digital license is similar to the deals currently in place with companies in UK, Australia, India, and Japan,” Holguín told staffers in an internal email alerting them of the deal with Televisa and future growth plans. “Opportunities for expansion into new markets internationally will continue to be a focus for us in 2018.”
Fusion already licenses its documentaries and series internationally on a program-by-program basis. According to the company, its documentary series “The Traffickers” is licensed to several networks in Europe. But this marks the first time FMG licenses the network brand internationally.
Last year, Fusion network launched in Mexico in an agreement with Izzi Telecom via its cable and Video On Demand service, solely using content from the U.S. network.
Source: Forbes