 | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Nationwide |
| Network | NBC Telemundo |
| Headquarters | Miami Springs, Florida |
| Programming | |
| Languages |
|
| Picture format | 1080iHDTV (downscaled toletterboxed480i for theSDTV feed) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | NBCUniversal (Comcast) |
| Parent | NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises |
| Sister channels | |
| History | |
| Launched | October 10, 1993 (1993-10-10) |
| Former names |
|
| Links | |
| Website | NBCUniverso.com |
Universo is an Americanpay television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises subsidiary ofNBCUniversal. The network serves as a companion cable channel to the NBCUniversal's flagshipbroadcast television networkNBC and, to some extent, its Spanish networkTelemundo.
Aimed atHispanic Adults between the ages of 18 and 49, the majority of its programming – which is tailored towardbilingual audiences – consists mainly of sports, scripted andreality series, and music programming. The network is headquartered inMiami Springs, Florida, while itsmaster control operations are housed at theCNBC Global Headquarters inEnglewood Cliffs, New Jersey, which serves as master control facilities for most of NBCUniversal's cable networks.
The network was founded byEmpresas 1BC asGEMS Televisión. In 2001, the network was acquired by Telemundo and re-branded asmun2. The network was renamedNBC Universo in February 2015 to align it with Telemundo's sister English-language network NBC.
As of November 2023[update], Universo is available to approximately 22,000,000 pay television households in the United States-down from its 2016 peak of 45,000,000 households.[1]
The network was launched on October 10, 1993, asGEMS Televisión, under founding ownerEmpresas 1BC. Cable television provider Cox Cable (nowCox Communications) acquired an ownership interest in the network the following year. The network's programming was aimed towards women of Hispanic or Latin origin.
In 2001, GEMS was purchased by the Telemundo Communications Group (then a joint venture led bySony Pictures Entertainment andLiberty Media), and revamped its programming format to target younger viewers; it was renamedmun2, a name chosen to reflect the "two worlds" that Latino Americans live in (the name being a Spanish-language pun on "mundo" and the number 2, which is pronounced like "mundos" or "worlds").[2]
Its initial lineup included programs from Telemundo's then sister companyColumbia TriStar Television (nowSony Pictures Television), including repeats of Spanish language adaptations ofCharlie's Angels (Angeles) andThe 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 theHome Shopping Network's Spanish language network Home Shopping Español (HSE) daily from 12:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.Eastern Time.
In 2002,NBC acquired Telemundo and mun2 from Sony Pictures and Liberty Media, and on August 2, 2004,General Electric, then-owners of NBC, acquired an 80% stake inUniversal Pictures, merging it with NBC to formNBCUniversal, which was later acquired byComcast in 2011.
The network's most well known series was the candid reality seriesI Love Jenni, which featured the life ofbanda/ranchero singerJenni Rivera. After her death in a plane crash nearMonterrey 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 millionvideo streams on mun2.tv, and over one millionvideo on demand views.[3]
On December 24, 2014, NBCUniversal announced that it would relaunch mun2 asNBC Universo on February 1, 2015, to coincide with the network's Spanish-language broadcast ofSuper Bowl XLIX. The relaunch of the network under theNBC name andpeacock logo 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 atNew York City'sFrederick 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 asTelemundo Deportes, a branch of the English-languageNBC Sports division), primarily in preparation for its broadcast of the2016 Summer Olympics and its assumption of Spanish-language cable rights toFIFA tournaments (such as the2018 FIFA World Cup), which began with the2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup.[4]
In February 2017, the channel's name was shortened to Universo as part of a brand refresh.[5]
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 divisionNBCUniversal Cable, made up of original series from sister networksSyfy andUSA Network, which incorporated Spanish 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 languagesubtitles, and programs presented interchangeably in both languages.
Music programming on the network during its existence as mun2 usually consisted of a mix ofmusic videos in English and Spanish from a variety of genres. In early April 2009, mun2 introduced two new music video-oriented shows calledIndie y Nuevo (a program focusing more on independent artists, which has since been cancelled) andThe Urban Tip (focusing onR&B,rap andreggaeton videos). In late December 2009, the network dropped its overnight block ofinfomercials 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 ofReventon Mix (focusing on contemporary Latin party music) orMorning 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.
Universo broadcasts Spanish-language sports programming in conjunction with theTelemundo Deportes branch of theNBC Sports Group. Since the2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, Universo is the Spanish-language cable rightsholder ofFIFA tournaments through2026.[6][7][8]
In January 2010, NBC Universal announced that the channel would continue to broadcast Mexican soccer games (under the brandFútbol Mexicano); most of the games aired to date were English-language telecasts of matches featured on Telemundo'sFútbol Estelar broadcasts. In February 2010, mun2 debutedmun2 Sports Arena, a half-hour sports news program that aired on Sunday evenings. The network held English-language rights to a2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers match between theUnited States andMexico on August 12, 2009. mun2 offered afree preview for the day of the match.[9]
On July 23, 2013, NBC Sports announced that Telemundo and mun2 would broadcastNASCAR events in Spanish in beginning in 2015, as part of NBC's new rights deal to cover the second half of theCup Series andXfinity Series season. As a prelude to the new contract, mun2 broadcast the opening event of theToyota Series—NASCAR's Mexican series, atPhoenix International Raceway during the weekend ofThe Profit on CNBC 500 on February 28, 2014.[10][11][12] Through NBC Sports' contract totelevise thePremier League, the network began airing Spanish-language simulcasts of select matches broadcast in English onNBCSN with the2013–14 season.[13]
Through NBC'srights agreement with the NFL, mun2 carried its first Spanish simulcast of an NFL game, airing aThanksgiving matchup between theSeattle Seahawks andSan Francisco 49ers on November 27, 2014; the re-branded channel has served as the Spanish-language broadcaster of theSuper 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]
Since theLiga MX Torneo Guard1anes 2020, Universo airs the home matches ofClub Deportivo Guadalajara in that tournament as part of the Telemundo Deportes division alongside Telemundo and its sister streaming servicePeacock.[14][15]