Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) has signed a long-term agreement with Hispanic-centric Univision Communications to carry the Univision Deportes Network (UDN) to Xfinity TV customers who subscribe to Digital Preferred or Latino levels of service beginning next month.
UDN is a 24/7 all-sports network with exclusive access to Liga MX soccer matches as well as other top sporting events like the U.S.-Mexico national soccer team matches, Major League Soccer, Formula 1 races and such U.S. favorites as the NFL, NBA and MLB. It ranks as the top Spanish-language cable sports network in both primetime and total day.
UDN "offers terrific programming and will be a great addition to our growing lineup of networks for Hispanic customers," Marcien Jenckes, executive vice president of consumer services for Comcast Cable said in a press release. "Comcast is already the nation's largest provider of Latino packages and we're excited to add UDN's wide range of sports programming for our Xfinity TV customers."
For UDN, the agreement "speaks to the growing influence of Hispanics and underscores Univision's position as the gateway to a growing and increasingly influential customer base," Juan Carlos Rodriguez, president of sports at Univision Communications said in the press release.
It also speaks to the measures Comcast is taking to bolster its case to acquire Time Warner Cable. In a statement to the FCC in August, Comcast executive vice president David Cohen made a special point of emphasizing Comcast's Spanish language programming commitment.
For more:
- Comcast has this press release
Related articles:
Comcast's Cohen warns of 'parochial business interests' behind diversity demand
ESPN, Univision generate record TV Everywhere audience, experience glitches
Hispanics stream more video content than any other U.S. consumer demographic, report says