After spending much of 2016 getting their general market over-the-top offerings up and running, virtual multichannel video programming distributors are now putting more emphasis on expanding Hispanic and Spanish-language streaming content.
These efforts are a logical outgrowth of the fact that Hispanics have long been active consumers of mobile video. Such moves also reflect the competitive landscape of offerings targeted to the large and growing Hispanic market. Online Spanish-language video from many international broadcasters is widely available, and traditional pay TV operators have been launching a growing array of Hispanic-targeted channels on their TV everywhere apps.
Even so, these content offerings remain a work in progress. While CenturyLink Stream has 27 available Spanish-language channels and Sling TV tosses out 25 plus networks, other offerings are limited to a handful of broadcasters. Most of these players don’t release subscriber counts, so they are listed alphabetically.
CenturyLink Stream
Owner: CenturyLink
Headquarters: Monroe, La.
Launch date: August 2017
Contact: Maxine Moreau, CenturyLink president of consumer markets, (318) 388-9000
Subscribers: N/A
Offering: CenturyLink Stream offers two base packages that consumers can customize by adding various genre packages and a la carte choices. The Ultimate package features more than 45 channels and a free cloud DVR for $45 a month, with existing CenturyLink High-Speed Internet customers getting a $5 monthly discount. The Latino package priced at $15 a month, features a free cloud digital video recorder and 27 Spanish-language channels, including Azteca, beIN Sports, Discovery en Español, ViendoMovies and Univision’s Univision Deportes Network, Galavisión, Univision and UniMás.
DirecTV Now
Headquarters: El Segundo, Calif.
Contact: Jennifer Miles, director of marketing, AT&T Entertainment Group, jennifer.miles@att.com
Subscribers: 491,000
Offering: The availability of Spanish-language programming and Hispanic targeted channels varies by package. Galavision and Univision East are available in DirecTV Now’s lowest-priced package, “Live a Little” ($35 per month). With the “Just Right” ($50 a month) and higher packages subscriber can also access Fusion and UniMás. At the highest tier, “Gotta Have It” ($70 per month), subscribers can view El Rey Network and Univision Deportes. On all of these packages, Telemundo’s local stations are available in the following markets: Boston, Mass.; Chicago, Illinois; Dallas-Ft. Worth, Harlingen-Brownsville, Houston, San Antonio, Texas; Los Angeles, San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, Calif.; Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; New York, N.Y.; Philadelphia, Penn.; and, Phoenix, Ariz.
fuboTV
Owner: fuboTV Inc. (privately held)
Headquarters: New York
Launch date: 2015
Contact: David Gandler, co-founder and CEO, (973) 922-3349
Subscribers: N/A
Offering: Having launched as a streaming soccer offering in 2015, fuboTV has evolved into a virtual MVPD. Its basic, entry-level fubo Premier package includes 65 channels, with 36 that carry sports programming for $39.99 a month, as well as more than 30 networks’ TV everywhere sites and apps and more than 10,000 titles on VOD. fubo Premier also includes nine Spanish-language channels (beIN Sports Español, Fox Deportes, Galavision, NBC Universo, Telemundo in select Markets, TeleXitos, UniMás, Univision and Univision Deportes Network). Other Spanish-language channels available as addons include Cine Sony Television, Fox Life, Gol TV Spanish, Nat Geo Mundo and TyC Sports. Alternatively, fuboTV offers a “fubo Latino” for $14.99 a month that includes 12 Spanish-language channels (Baby TV Español, beIN Sports Español, Cine Sony Television, Fox Deportes, Fox Life, Galavision, Gol TV Spanish, Nat Geo Mundo, TyC Sports, UniMás, Univision, Univision Deportes Network), with the ability to add nine more Spanish-language channels (Antena 3, Bandamax, De Pelicula, De Pelicula Clasico, FOROtv, NTN24, Ritmoson, Telehit and Univision Tlnovelas) for an additional $4.99 a month.
Hulu With Live TV
Owners: The Walt Disney Co., 21st Century Fox, Comcast, Time Warner
Headquarters: Santa Monica, Calif.
Launch date: 2017 (company launched 2007)
Contact: Mike Hopkins, CEO, (310) 571-4700
Subscribers: N/A
Offering: Hulu with Live TV (beta) features live and on-demand programming from more than 50 popular sports, news, entertainment and kids channels as well as Hulu’s entire premium streaming library with limited commercials for $39.99 per month. This includes 50 hours of Cloud DVR recording storage, up to six individual profiles and two simultaneous streams per account, with options to upgrade to an enhanced Cloud DVR with 200 hours of storage and unlimited in-home concurrent screens.
The $39.99 service includes all of Hulu’s Spanish-language offerings. Hulu recently signed two new deals with Telemundo, which includes five popular Spanish-language series, and Sony Pictures Television, which includes such telenovelas and teleseries as Lady and La Vendendora de Rosas. Hulu also offers a variety of popular franchises in Spanish, including the complete libraries of Curious George and CSI en Español. The Hulu original series East Los High, an English-language series featuring an all-Latino cast, will release its feature length finale later this year.
PlayStation Vue
Owner: Sony
Headquarters: San Mateo, Calif.
Launch date: 2015
Contact: N/A
Subscribers: N/A
Offering: Offers a variety of tiers starting with Access (48 channels for $39.99 a month); subscribers can add the Español Pack (eight Spanish-language channels) for $3.99 a month.
Pongalo
Owner: Pongalo Inc. (formerly Latin Everywhere)
Headquarters: Los Angeles, Calif.
Launch date: 2016
Contact: Rich Hull, CEO, (310) 245-9475, info@pongalo.com
Subscribers: N/A
Offering: A Latino-focused subscription OTT service offering more than 15,000 hours of premium film and TV content anchored by classic telenovelas from Mexico, Venezuela, and Colombia for $5.99 a month. Drawing on its partnership with Revolution Studios, Pongalo also offers hundreds of major Hollywood titles including xXx, Black Hawk Down, Daddy Day Care and Maid in Manhattan.
Sling TV
Owner: Dish Network
Headquarters: Englewood, Colo.
Launch date: May 1, 2015
Contact: Erik Carlson, president and COO
Subscribers: N/A
Offering: Sling TV supplies a variety of packages for English-dominant, bilingual and Spanish-dominant U.S. households. More than 25 Spanish-language channels are included in the “Best of Spanish TV” package for $10 per month when purchased on a standalone basis, or for $5 when combined with “Sling Orange” or “Sling Blue.” Additional Spanish-language services, including México, Caribe, Sudamérica and España, can be purchased for $10 per month on a standalone basis, or for $5 per month each with a subscription to Best of Spanish TV, Sling Orange or Sling Blue.
Vemox
Owner: Olympusat
Headquarters: West Palm Beach, Fla.
Launch date: August, 2016.
Contact: Tom Mohler, tom@olympusat.com; Charles Mohler, chuck@olympusat.com; Chris Williams, chris@olympusat.com; Colleen Glynn, colleen@olympusat.com; Aurora Bacquerie, aurora@olympusat.com; Jesus Pinango, jesus@olympusat.com; Carlos Lopez, clopez@olympusat.com; Ignacio Sanz de Acevedo, ignacio@olympusat.com; phone: (855) 875-4383
Subscribers: N/A
Offering: Olympusat sells Vemox, a white-label package of channels, to operators and companies including more than 70 live channels and thousands of on-demand movies and series; operators brand the service and set pricing. Currently available through Consolidated Communications on Samsung Smart TV and LG Smart TV, iOS and Android mobile devices; also accessible on Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick platforms.
WhereverTV
Owner: WhereverTV
Headquarters: Fort Meyers, Fla.
Launch date: 2006
Contact: Michael Dutcher, vice president of content acquisition (323) 333-0379
Subscribers: N/A
Offering: Designed to offer an economical alternative to cable with the advantages of being able to personalize access on multiple devices, WhereverTV delivers 24 plus Spanish channels for $17.99 per month.
YouTube TV
Owner: YouTube
Headquarters: San Bruno, Calif.
Launch date: 2017
Contact: N/A
Subscribers: N/A
Offering: YouTube TV provides 50 plus networks for $35 a month in areas covering over 50% of all U.S. households; includes most live local broadcast stations in markets where YouTube TV is available and a cloud DVR, with no storage limits, that travels with the user inside the U.S. Content can be watched on any scr een — mobile, tablet or computer — and streamed to a TV via Google Chromecast, a TV with the built-in Chr omecast interface, or AirPlay via Apple TV. Spanish-language channels include NBCU’s Telemundo and Universo.
