Hemisphere Media to acquire three Spanish-Language Cable Television Networks

Hemisphere Media Group, Inc. announced that Hemisphere Media Holdings, LLC, its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire three Spanish-language cable television networks from Media World, LLC.

The acquisition is structured as an asset purchase and is expected to be funded with cash on hand. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2014.

This transaction will strengthen and expand Hemisphere’s portfolio with the addition of three market-leading and highly complementary cable networks which target distinct and underserved audiences and build on the Company’s commitment to provide unique programming focused on the U.S. Hispanic market. The networks acquired are:

    •    Pasiones, dedicated to showcasing the most-popular telenovelas and series, distributed to approximately 3.8 million subscribers in the U.S. and 7.2 million subscribers in Latin America;
    •    Centroamerica TV, the leading network targeting the third largest U.S. Hispanic group, featuring the most popular news, entertainment and soccer programming from Central America with over 3.3 million subscribers in the U.S.; and
    •    TV Dominicana, the leading network targeting Dominicans living in the U.S., featuring the most popular news, entertainment and baseball programming from the Dominican Republic, with over 2.2 million subscribers in the U.S.

Alan Sokol, CEO of Hemisphere, stated, “We are thrilled to be bringing Pasiones, Centroamerica TV and TV Dominicana to our world-class portfolio. These networks target valuable, growing and underserved segments of the Hispanic audience. With this acquisition, Hemisphere will own five leading U.S. Hispanic cable networks, two Latin American cable networks, and WAPA-TV, the #1 network in Puerto Rico, expanding our leadership position in Hispanic television. We believe that we can add significant value to these channels through improved programming, marketing and distribution efforts, and these networks will expand our commercial inventory and cross-selling opportunities in the U.S. and augment our Latin American offerings.”