Television

Telemundo announced it posted its strongest June performance ever in Monday through Friday prime (M-F, 7-11PM) among Adults 18-49 (A18-49), averaging a 3.8 rating/771,000, a 52% gain over June ’05 (2.5 rating), and a 27 share of the audience watching the three major Spanish-language broadcast networks.

How important is Español? Ask MTV.

The premier youth-oriented network, which practically defined television targeted at 12 to 34 year-olds, plans to launch the bilingual MTV Tr3s network this fall. That’s right, bilingual. Pronounced tres, meaning three in Spanish, the reformatted and redesigned version of its Spanish-language MTV en Español will air English and Spanish music videos, lifestyle series, and documentaries. By Jose Cancela

Grupo Televisa, S.A. reported that it has made a filing with the SEC on Schedule 13D in which it announces, among other things, that it has sent a letter dated June 30, 2006, informing Umbrella Holdings, LLC, the group led by Providence Equity, that Televisa will not be rolling over its shares in Univision as permitted under the Merger Agreement between Univision and Umbrella Holdings.

Grupo Televisa, S.A. is disappointed about the outcome of the Univision auction. Televisa stated that after repeated offers to discuss all aspects of the proposal including price, Univision and its advisers refused to enter into any discussions with Televisa after they submitted their initial bid. Televisa stated that they will vigorously pursue other options in the growing U.S. Hispanic marketplace.

Univision Communications Inc. and a group including Madison Dearborn Partners, Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Saban Capital Group, today announced they have signed a definitive agreement under which the group will acquire Univision for $36.25 per share in cash. The transaction is valued at approximately $13.7 billion, including the assumption of $1.4 billion in debt.