ABSTRACT
This chapter extends the discussion of U.S. Spanish-language television’s development under the forces of growth and competition into the 1990s, focusing on ownership changes at Univision and Telemundo, financial challenges, a new ratings system and new networks. In 1993 Univision was purchased by a partnership consisting of the U.S. producer and investor Jerrold Perenchio, Emilio Azcárraga Milmo of Televisa, and Venevisión’s Gustavo Cisneros. Sony Pictures Entertainment and the cable giant Liberty Media announced their acquisition of Telemundo in 1997. These changes occurred during a period of accelerated media growth and ownership concentration prior to substantial turmoil wrought by digitization in the 2000s. Herman and Chomsky (2010) recount Ben Bagdikian’s troubling findings through various editions of his classic work, The Media Monopoly: in 1983, 50 companies controlled the majority of U.S. media, by 1990 the number had dropped to 23 and in 2010 it was down to nine. Such was the general media environment Spanish-language television expanded within during the 1990s. Both networks focused on growing their viewership, producing and exporting content and developing profitable synergies, domestically and internationally. More network options for Hispanic audiences in the U.S. and Latin America emerged later in the decade, some of them offering bilingual content. The developments examined here are closely intertwined with those in the next chapter, which focuses on change in Latin American television, especially Mexico, also during the 1990s and under the forces of deregulation, market expansion and ownership concentration (Fox & Waisbord, 2002; Sinclair, 1999).
