Lionsgate, Univision team for first Spanish language movie streaming service
LOS ANGELES -- If it wasn't clear already, Liongsate loves streaming services.
The Santa Monica-based studio announced Monday that it's partnering with Univision to launch a SVOD service for the Hispanic movie-going audience in the U.S.
The platform marks Lionsgate's fourth OTT service, following Tribeca ShortList, which launched last fall, Comic-Con HQ, which launched earlier this summer, and Kevin Hart's Laugh Out Loud, which is expected to launch in 2017.
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“Our premium movie service checks all the boxes for success -- a world-class partner in Univision, films from the Pantelion brand that has great equity among Spanish-speaking audiences, strong management, terrific intellectual property and a well-defined market opportunity,” Lionsgate Chief Executive Officer Jon Feltheimer said in a statement.
The service is scheduled to launch early next year. Univision will offer the new service to cable and satellite operators individually as well as in tandem with its own Univision NOW, a subscription service for its broadcast networks Univision and UniMas.
It will include a "deep line-up of titles" across all genres and encompass titles from Lionsgate’s joint venture with Televisa, Pantelion Films, and Hollywood films from Lionsgate’s 16,000-title library and other catalogs dubbed into Spanish.
Pantelion Films, the first major Hollywood Latino studio, has rights to more than 70% of the top-grossing films from Mexico over the past five years, including Instructions Not Included, Un Gallo Con Muchos Huevos, No Manches Frida.
The news comes as more companies continue to cater to the growing Hispanic consumer base in the U.S., which now is made up of over 50 million people.
Univision, which has established itself as a programming giant especially among Latino consumers, is available in 93% of U.S. Hispanic television households.
Netflix recently also partnered up with the company in an effort to court Latino viewers and broaden its audience.
The new streaming service also underscores Univision's efforts to expand its presence in the digital space. In April, the network purchased Disney's piece of Fusion, which included Fusion's TV and digital operations, The Onion, The Root, Flama, El Rey and Univision's digital and music operations.
Univision also recently bid for Gawker Media in an auction after the media company was forced to declare bankruptcy. The Spanish network paid $135 million for Gawker Media, and shuttered the company's flagship site, Gawker.com.
Saba was a Los Angeles-based reporter who covers all things digital entertainment, including YouTube, streaming services and digital influencers. Prior to that, she spent two years at the Los Angeles Times covering entertainment for the Calendar and Company Town sections. Saba grew up in Santa Monica and graduated from Boston University with a B.S. in journalism and B.A. in political science. When not reporting, she is usually binge watching shows online or looking for new coffee shops to frequent.
