April 27, 2025

Media Decoder Blog: Hulu to Stream Univision Shows

11:26 a.m. | Updated | The popular streaming video Web site Hulu is adding Spanish language television shows for the first time.

In a deal to be announced on Wednesday and to be implemented later this year, Hulu will have a selection of telenovelas and other shows from Univision, the leading Spanish language network in the United States.

Most of the Univision shows will be available only to paying subscribers of Hulu Plus, the $8-a-month subscription arm of the Web site, said Tonia O’Connor, the president of distribution and sales and marketing for Univision.

In the past, Hulu Plus has been marketed as a supplement to the buffet of shows on the free Hulu site. But Univision is treating the shows it puts on the free site as a “sampling.”

“We want to make this an incentive, if you will, to get folks to upgrade to Hulu Plus,” Ms. O’Connor said in an interview.

Ms. O’Connor said that most of Univision’s prime-time shows would be available the next day on Hulu Plus, but she did not elaborate on which ones would be included or excluded. Univision will also stream some past shows on Hulu Plus.

Most of Univision’s prime-time shows are supplied by the Mexican television giant Televisa. Late last year, when the companies extended their content licensing agreement, Univision gained the right to stream the shows in the United States for the first time.

Univision’s deal with Hulu is not exclusive; Ms. O’Connor said the company is “in discussions with all distributors.”

Andy Forssell, the senior vice president for content acquisition and distribution for Hulu, noted in an interview that “there hasn’t been long-form Spanish language content online in any significant amount” until now.

Hulu has had streaming TV deals with the NBC and Fox networks for four years and with the ABC network for two years. Asked whether the Univision deal is comparable to the ABC deal, Mr. Forssell said, “I don’t think that would be saying too much.”

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