As part of its expansion plans into English-language content, Univision’s news division has launched “UNews.”
Carolina Sarassa and Andrea Linares anchor the new English-language newscast that airs on Fusion TV Monday through Friday from 1 to 3 pm ET/PT (12 to 2 pm CT).
“UNews” will repurpose content from “Noticiero Univision,” as well as feature some original content produced by the Univision news team. Correspondents will also do English-language standups and file some of their stories in English.
“UNews” launched on Monday, September 17.
Univision has kept the project quiet, as it works out through the kinks in the “soft launch” phase.
Mark Lima, VP of News for Fusion and María Martínez-Guzmán, VP and Executive Producer of News Gathering for Univision, are overseeing production of “UNews.”
“With ‘UNews’ we aim to provide a new product for our English speaking audience from a Latino perspective,” Univision News President Daniel Coronell said in an emailed statement. “The daily two-hour broadcast will deliver national and international news coverage in a fresh, informal style drawing on the bilingual talent in our newsroom and the unique insights of our Hispanic correspondents across the nation and overseas. ‘UNews’ is an exciting step for our existing Univision Noticias team and will be a great platform to showcase our content to a new audience.”
The project is reminiscent of Fusion’s original purpose: to produce English-language news for a Hispanic millennial audience.
But the cable network, which ended up launching with an eclectic and confusing lineup in 2013, lost its way, its major partner in ABC and failed to reach and connect with a sizeable audience.