Univision sells several television stations in Puerto Rico to Liberman
The operation includes WLII-DT, Caguas-San Juan, and the stations that repeat its signal throughout the island: WOLE TV-DT, Aguadilla in the west zone and WSUR-DT, Ponce in the central zone.
Univision Communications has reached an agreement to sell some of its television stations Puerto Rico a Liberman Media Group.
The operation includes WLII-DT, Caguas-San Juan, and the stations that repeat its signal throughout the island: WOLE TV-DT, Aguadilla in the west zone and WSUR-DT, Ponce in the central zone.
Univision will continue to operate sister station WSTE-DT (TeleIsla Canal 7) as well as its radio properties, including Uforia.
Lenard Liberman, the president of Liberman Media Group, has extensive experience producing Spanish-language programs, as the former president of Liberman Broadcasting (LBI) and the Estrella television network. At LBI, Liberman produced nearly 25,000 hours of television programming, some of it now syndicated in Latin America and on streaming services. Following the closing of the transaction, Liberman Media Group plans to continue broadcasting a combination of programming that is produced locally in Puerto Rico and programming that airs on the Univision and UniMás networks.
Pending customary regulatory review and approvals, the transaction is expected to close before the end of 2020. As previously announced, a group led by ForgeLight and Searchlight Capital Partners has agreed to acquire a 64% stake in Univision. Closing of both transactions is expected to occur at the same time.
Vince Sadusky, CEO of Univision, has assured that “we are confident that the Liberman Media team, as a veteran Spanish-language broadcaster, is the right buyer for these Puerto Rican television stations. “We thank our employees at these stations for their hard work and dedication, and we wish them all the best in this next chapter.”
For his part, Lenard Liberman has been delighted to “acquire these Puerto Rican television stations and excited about the idea of entering the market with an experienced and talented staff from Univision Puerto Rico. “We are fully committed to continuing the locally produced programming that has characterized these stations and is loved by the audiences they serve.”
“With three decades of experience in Spanish-language media, I have seen firsthand the importance of stations like these to local communities, and I am proud that we will continue to serve Puerto Ricans with the content they are based on,” has added.
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