Universo (TV network)

Universo is an American pay television channel that is owned by the NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises subsidiary of NBCUniversal. The network serves as a companion cable channel to the NBCUniversal's flagship broadcast television network NBC and, to some extent, its Spanish language network Telemundo.

Universo
LaunchedOctober 10, 1993 (1993-10-10)
NetworkNBC
Telemundo
Owned by
Picture format1080i HDTV
(downscaled to letterboxed 480i for the SDTV feed)
CountryUnited States
Language
Broadcast areaNationwide
HeadquartersMiami Springs, Florida
Formerly called
  • GEMS Television (1993–2001)
  • mun2 (2001–2015)
  • NBC Universo (2015–2017)
Sister channel(s)
WebsiteNBCUniverso.com
Availability
Satellite
DirecTVChannel 410 (HD)
Dish NetworkChannel 838 (HD)
Cable
Available on most cable systemsChannel slots vary on each operator
IPTV
AT&T U-verseChannel 192 (SD)
Verizon FiOSChannel 275 and 1643 (SD)
Channel 775 (HD)
Streaming media
DirecTV NowInternet Protocol Television
YouTube TVInternet Protocol Television
Sling TVInternet Protocol Television

Aimed at Hispanic Adults between the ages of 18 and 49, the majority of its programming – which is tailored toward bilingual audiences – consists mainly of sports, scripted and reality series, and music programming. The network is headquartered in Miami Springs, Florida, while its master control operations are housed at the CNBC Global Headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, which serves as master control facilities for most of NBCUniversal's cable networks.

The network was founded by Empresas 1BC as GEMS Television. In 2001, the network was acquired by Telemundo and re-branded as mun2. The network was renamed NBC Universo in February 2015 to align it with Telemundo's sister English-language network NBC. As of February 2015, NBC Universo's programming was available to approximately 39.326 million pay television households (33.8% of cable, satellite and telco customers with at least one television set) in the United States.[1]

In January 2017, the "NBC" brand was dropped from the network's on-air branding; the network is now simply titled "Universo."

Background

The network was launched on October 10, 1993 as GEMS Television, under founding owner Empresas 1BC. Cable television provider Cox Cable (now Cox Communications) acquired an ownership interest in the network the following year. The network's programming was aimed towards Latino women.

As mun2
Logo as mun2, used from 2001 to January 30, 2015.

In 2001, GEMS was purchased by the Telemundo Communications Group (then a joint venture led by Sony Pictures Entertainment and Liberty Media), and revamped its programming format to target younger viewers; it was renamed mun2 (pronounced mundos, meaning "worlds," a pun on Telemundo and dos, the Spanish word for the number "2"), a name chosen with the intent to reflect the "two worlds" that Latino Americans live in.[2]

Its initial lineup included programs from Telemundo's then sister company Columbia TriStar Television (now Sony Pictures Television), including repeats of Spanish language adaptations of Charlie's Angels (Angeles) and The Dating Game that had aired on Telemundo as part of a failed programming revamp in 1998 in an attempt to counterprogram its rival, Univision. In addition, mun2 ran blocks of programming from the Home Shopping Network's Spanish language network Home Shopping Español (HSE) daily from 12:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

The network's most well known series was the candid reality series I Love Jenni, which featured the life of banda/ranchero singer Jenni Rivera. After her death in a plane crash near Monterrey on December 9, 2012, the final season of the series earned the highest season average of any mun2 original program in its history, reaching a total of 5.5 million people across all of its telecasts during the season's 18-week run. It also ranked as the #1 show among all Hispanic cable networks in every key demographic during its Sunday night premiere. The series on-demand traffic increased, with over eight million video streams on mun2.tv, and over one million video on demand views.[3]

As Universo
Logo used until January 17, 2017.

On December 24, 2014, NBCUniversal announced that it would relaunch mun2 as NBC Universo on February 1, 2015, to coincide with the network's Spanish-language broadcast of Super Bowl XLIX. The relaunch of the network under the NBC name was designed to reflect the broadcaster's commitment to the Spanish-language television market.[2]

Eight months prior to the relaunching announcement, at NBCUniversal Hispanic Enterprises and Content's upfront presentation at New York City's Frederick P. Rose Hall on May 13, 2014, the company announced that NBC Universo would be revamping its programming. The new line-up would increase its focus on sports coverage (which included the re-organization of Telemundo's sports division as Telemundo Deportes, a branch of the English-language NBC Sports division), primarily in preparation for its broadcast of the 2016 Summer Olympics and its assumption of Spanish-language cable rights to FIFA tournaments (such as the 2018 FIFA World Cup), which began with the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup.[4] In January 2017, the "NBC" brand was dropped from the network's on-air branding; the network is now simply titled "Universo."

Programming

Universo's programming consists of sports, original scripted drama series, reality series largely centered on popular Hispanic celebrities, movies, and music videos and music-related magazine programming; it also broadcasts series originating from Telemundo and networks operated as part of sister division NBCUniversal Cable, made up of original series from sister networks Syfy and USA Network, which incorporated Spanish language subtitles. To reflect its audience, Universo does not exclusively air programming in Spanish, airing a mix of shows presented in English, dubbed into Spanish and incorporating Spanish language subtitles, and programs presented interchangeably in both languages.

Music programming on the network during its existence as mun2 usually consisted of a mix of music video in English and Spanish from a variety of genres. In early April 2009, mun2 introduced two new music video-oriented shows called Indie y Nuevo (a program focusing more on independent artists, which has since been cancelled) and The Urban Tip (focusing on R&B, rap and reggaeton videos). In late December 2009, the network dropped its overnight block of infomercials that aired daily from 3:00 to 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time, and replaced it with additional music video programming either in the form of Reventon Mix (focusing on contemporary Latin party music) or Morning Breath (featuring a selection of videos from various artists). In January 2010, the network also began broadcasting a weekly block of feature films on Friday nights.

Sports programming

Through the Telemundo Deportes branch of NBC Sports Group, which superseded Telemundo's sports division Deportes Telemundo upon the current unit's creation within NBC Sports Group in May 2015,[5] Universo broadcasts association football matches from select teams within Liga MX (consisting of home games from C.F. Pachuca), and holds the Spanish play-by-by rights to National Football League (NFL) events by way of NBC Sports' broadcasting agreements with the league.

As mun2, the network served as the English broadcaster of a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers match between the United States and Mexico on August 12, 2009. mun2 offered a free preview for the day of the match.[6]

As a result of the former Deportes Telemundo reaching an agreement with FIFA to acquire the Spanish language rights to its tournaments on October 22, 2011, mun2 gained the Spanish language cable television rights to select games to the FIFA Men's and Women's World Cup. The deal, which began with the 2015 Women's World Cup and runs through 2026, includes rights to associated FIFA-sanctioned tournaments (including the Men's U-20 and U-17 World Cups, and the Men's Beach Soccer World Cup); the deal was extended on February 12, 2015, to include rights to the 2026 FIFA World Cup.[7][8][9]

In January 2010, NBCUniversal announced that mun2 would continue to broadcast Mexican soccer games (under the brand Fútbol Mexicano); most of the games aired to date usually consisted English language simulcasts of Telemundo's Fútbol Estelar broadcasts. In February 2010, mun2 debuted mun2 Sports Arena, a half-hour sports news program that aired on Sunday evenings. Through NBC Sports' contract to televise the Premier League, the network began airing Spanish-language simulcasts of select matches broadcast in English on NBCSN with the 2013–14 season.[10]

On July 23, 2013, NBC Sports announced that Telemundo and mun2 would broadcast NASCAR events in Spanish in beginning in 2015, as part of NBC's new rights deal to cover the second half of the Cup Series and Xfinity Series season. As a prelude to the new contract, mun2 broadcast the opening event of the Toyota Series—NASCAR's Mexican series, at Phoenix International Raceway during the weekend of The Profit on CNBC 500 on February 28, 2014.[11][12][13]

Through NBC's rights agreement with the NFL, mun2 carried its first Spanish simulcast of an NFL game, airing a Thanksgiving matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers on November 27, 2014; the re-branded channel has served as the Spanish-language broadcaster of the Super Bowl during years NBC holds the rights. NBC had proposed using Telemundo to act as a Spanish-language simulcast partner for years following its 2001 purchase of the network, but this did not occur until the Premier League agreement.[4]

List of programs broadcast by Universo

Current
Original programming
Acquired programming
Reruns of Telemundo programming
  • Caso Cerrado
  • Historias de la Virgen Morena
  • Exatlón Estados Unidos (July 17, 2018 – present)
Sports
Telenovelas

Former

Notes and references
  1. Robert Seidman (February 22, 2015). "List of how many homes each cable network is in as of February 2015". TV by the Numbers. Zap2it (Tribune Digital Ventures). Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  2. Cynthia Littleton (November 4, 2014). "Spanish-Language Cabler Mun2 to Relaunch as NBC Universo". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved December 25, 2014.
  3. Amanda Kondolojy (December 4, 2013). "mun2 Presents 'I Love Jenni' Marathon Monday December 9". TV by the Numbers. Zap2it (Tribune Media Services). Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  4. "Telemundo Slate Includes New Novelas, Musical Competition Series & More". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation. May 13, 2014. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
  5. "Upfronts 2015: NBC Deportes Ramps Up". Multichannel News. NewBay Media. May 16, 2015.
  6. Mike Reynolds (August 10, 2009). "Mun2 Free Preview Scorecard: 67 Million Homes On Aug. 12". Multichannel News. NewBay Media. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
  7. Jeré Longman (October 21, 2011). "Fox and Telemundo Win U.S. Rights to World Cups". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
  8. Joe Flint (October 22, 2011). "Fox, Telemundo buy TV rights to FIFA World Cup soccer". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Publishing. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
  9. Richard Sandomir (February 12, 2015). "Fox and Telemundo to Show World Cup Through 2026 as FIFA Extends Contracts". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
  10. "NBC wins $250m rights to broadcast English Premier League in US". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Associated Press. October 29, 2012. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
  11. "NBC wins NASCAR TV rights, signs 10-year deal to replace ESPN, Turner". Sporting News. Sporting News Media. July 23, 2013. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
  12. "NASCAR and NBC Sports Group Reach Landmark Media Rights Agreement". NBC Sports Group Press Box (Press release). NBC Sports Group. July 23, 2013. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
  13. "Mexico Series Returns To Phoenix For Opener". NASCAR. February 7, 2014. Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
  14. "TELEMUNDO, E! AND UNIVERSO MAKE HISTORY WITH LATINX NOW!, THE FIRST TOTAL-MARKET ENTERTAINMENT SHOW IN ENGLISH AND SPANISH TO PREMIERE OCTOBER 3RD". nbcumv.com. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
  15. "CNBC's Hit Reality THE PROFIT Debuts On Universo As EL SOCIO With Business Expert Marcus Lemonis This Sunday". broadwayworld.com. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  16. "Monday Night Raw Move to USA Network Prompts Changes to WWE Programming". corporate.wwe.com. WWE. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  17. "WWE's ECW ignites mun2". wwe.com. WWE. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  18. Csonka, Larry. "WWE News: Updated WWE Programming On MUN2, Jack Swagger Article, More". 411mania.com. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
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