UniMás (, 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).
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, 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.
History Origins 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. 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.
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 in Atlanta, KSTR-TV in Dallas–Fort Worth, and WHUB-TV 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.
TeleFutura
On May 15, 2001, during Univision's upfront presentation, Univision Communications announced its intentions to form a then-unnamed secondary television network that would compete with Univision, Telemundo, and the then-recently launched Azteca América. Organizational plans for the network called for the recently acquired former USA Broadcasting stations to serve as the network's nuclei, with its programming catering to bilingual Latinos with a preference toward watching English-language television programs, as well as young adult males between the ages 18 and 34 that seldom watch Spanish language television other than sporting events; Univision executives expected the network to reach 80% of all Hispanic and Latino households throughout the U.S. that own at least one television set by the time of its launch. Although Univision maintained a dominant market share among the American Spanish-language television networks (holding an 83% share of Latino viewers during prime time at the time), Univision Communications executives did not believe that a second network would result in a cannibalization of the flagship network's market share.
On July 31, 2001, Univision announced that TeleFutura would be the name for the new network, with Univision Communications chairman and chief executive officer A. Jerrold Perenchio noting the name was suggested in part by two of corporate employees to "represent[…] the future of Spanish-language television". Univision continued to run the nine HSN affiliates and four independent stations (one of which regained its affiliation with HSN earlier that year) as English language outlets for several months following the USA Broadcasting purchase.
TeleFutura formally launched at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time on January 14, 2002, debuting initially on 18 Univision-owned stations (consisting of twelve former USA Broadcasting stations – an additional station, WQHS-TV in Cleveland, was converted into an owned-and-operated station of parent network Univision instead; it would later carry UniMás on a subchannel) – and six others that Univision Communications acquired afterward) and 24 affiliates owned by other companies. Initial programming on the network – which was counterprogrammed to offer distinct programs that do not directly compete with shows aired on Univision – included Escándalo TV ("Scandal TV"; the program was originally titled Escándalo en el Medio Dia, before being changed due to the existence of a similarly titled Mexican program produced by Televisa), a three-hour gossip/entertainment program designed to compete with similar newsmagazines such as Telemundo's Cotorreando (and ran on the network until October 2011); and the daytime talk show Monica.
The remainder of TeleFutura's programming consisted of imported telenovelas from Latin American production companies with which Univision maintained programming agreements including Televisa, Venevisión, Coral Productions, RCTV, RCN and Rede Globo, which aired only on weekday afternoons at its launch. Evenings and weekends primarily consisted of feature films, consisting exclusively of dubbed Spanish prints of American releases from the 1980s onward, as part of the umbrella showcases "CinePlex" (for daytime movies, usually those airing on weekends), "CinEscape" ("Movie Escape" or "Cinema Escape") (for late night movies), "Cine Especial" (""Space Cinema" or "Space Movie") (for special movie presentations) or "Cine de las Estrellas" ("Cinema of the Stars") (for prime time movies). The network also featured news and sports updates during prime time, as well as several sports programs and events including Contacto Deportivo ("Contact Sports"), an hour-long weeknight sports news program; weekly boxing matches on Friday nights; and soccer matches from Liga MX on weekend afternoons.
On June 27, 2006, Univision Communications was acquired by Broadcasting Media Partners Inc. – a consortium of investment firms led by the Haim Saban-owned Saban Capital Group (which had previously owned Saban Entertainment until its sale to The Walt Disney Company in June 2001, as part of News Corporation's sale of Fox Family Worldwide), TPG Capital, L.P., Providence Equity Partners, Madison Dearborn Partners and Thomas H. Lee Partners – for $12.3 billion (increasing to $13.7 billion or $36.25 per share by the sale's closure), plus the assumption of $1.4 billion in debt. The sale received federal approval and was formally consummated on March 27, 2007.
During the February 2007 sweeps period, according to Nielsen Media Research, TeleFutura made significant gains in viewership at the expense of Telemundo, which it overtook for second place among the major Spanish-language networks in the key demographics of Adults 18–34, Men 18–34, and Men 18–49. On February 26, 2010, TeleFutura once again ranked as the second highest-rated Spanish-language network in the United States and earned its highest ratings for an entertainment special in the network's history, with the finale of the reality competition series Buscando La Doble de Selena ("Search for Selena's Double"), which attracted 1.9 million total viewers. TeleFutura finished 2012 as the youngest broadcast network with a median age of 36 and finished the year averaging 642,000 total viewers aged 2 and up. It also ranked as the second-highest-rated Spanish-language network in 2012 in key dayparts among Adults 18–49 and Adults 18–34.
UniMás
On December 3, 2012, Univision Communications announced that it would relaunch TeleFutura as UniMás – which loosely translates to "Univision Plus", to underline its ties to its parent network Univision – with a programming refocusing to appeal more towards Latino males between the ages of 12 and 35 years old. The revamped network would feature Mexican and Colombian-imported programming from Televisa, Caracol Televisión and RTI Colombia (the latter two of which compete with RCN in the domestic Colombian market), which had maintained longstanding programming and production agreements with rival Telemundo, through contracts struck months before the relaunch, it would also increase its reliance on sports content for its weekend schedule.
The new logo and brand identity, which debuted on-air at 5:00 a.m. CST on January 7, 2013 (exactly one week before the network's 11th anniversary), were created in collaboration with branding firm Troika Design Group. As part of the campaign to announce the launch, Univision Communications launched an extensive advertising campaign for UniMás that included promotional spots, digital ads, print ads and outdoor advertising in New York City, Los Angeles and Miami. The network's prime time was revamped to feature several new serial dramas formatted of a grittier nature than the romance-themed telenovelas produced by Televisa that air on Univision to appeal to male viewers including the Colombian adaptation of Breaking Bad, Metástasis; the crime dramas Made in Cartagena and ¿Quién Eres Tú? ("Infringement"); and the boxing-themed drama Cloroformo ("Chloroform"), which were included among the relaunched network's initial prime time offerings.
On May 13, 2019, UniMás refocused its programming strategy in order to target a younger audience to that of its parent network Univision, with a focus on news, sports, unscripted entertainment and reality shows, most of them broadcast live. On that day, the network added an early edition of Noticiero Univision: Edición Nocturna at 10 p.m., coinciding with the arrival of Colombian newsreader Patricia Janiot to the broadcast, co-anchoring alongside Enrique Acevedo. On October 31, 2021, this shift was completed with the launch of a new wordmark logo and brand identity, designed, as in 2013, by Troika Design Group, and a new slogan, Vívelo Todo ("Live it All").
Programming
UniMás operates on a 126-hour network programming schedule, which it has maintained since its launch as TeleFutura in January 2002. It provides general entertainment programming to owned-and-operated and affiliated stations daily from 6:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. Eastern and Pacific Time. Two separate children's programming blocks known as "Toonturama" and "Toonturama Junior" – which features some programs compliant with FCC educational programming requirements – airs for five hours each Saturday at 7:00 a.m. Eastern and Pacific Time. All other time periods are filled with infomercials.