TelevisaUnivision is putting the polish on ViX+ for the premium streamer’s debut next month — and will try to persuade Spanish-speaking audiences to pay for another service in their monthly mix.
The Hispanic programming powerhouse, formed through the merger of Univision and Televisa, is launching ViX+ on July 21 in the U.S and across Latin America. Its will cost $6.99 per month in the U.S. and MX$119 per month in Mexico.
TelevisaUnivision touts its entry into the premium streaming wars as the biggest dedicated Spanish-language service in the market: ViX+ is slated to feature more than 10,000 hours of ad-free entertainment programming in its first year and up to 7,000 hours of live sports, including live soccer matches and coverage in the U.S. and Mexico of world’s top leagues and tournaments.
ViX+ will include more than 70 original series and movies in the first year. Originals available at launch include premium series “María Félix, La Doña,” “La Mujer del Diablo” and docuseries “Mi Vecino El Cartel” from executive producer Selena Gomez. Exclusive film premieres in July on ViX+ include “Enfermo Amor” (pictured above) and “Mirreyes contra Godinez 2, ‘El Retiro.'”
TelevisaUnivision has inked deals with a range of name-brand creators for ViX+ programming, including Salma Hayek Pinault, Eugenio Derbez, Maria Dueñas, Mario Vargas Llosa, Santiago Limón, Leonardo Padrón and Marc Cistaré.
The debut of ViX+ comes after the media company in late March bowed ViX, a free, ad-supported service that provides a separate bucket of programming. ViX+ will incorporate content and subscribers from Pantaya, a U.S. streaming platform TelevisaUnivision acquired from Hemisphere Media.
“With the launch of ViX+, Spanish-language viewers will finally have a subscription streaming service with content that authentically reflects our culture,” TelevisaUnivision’s Pierluigi Gazzolo, president and chief transformation officer, said in a statement. The combination of ViX and ViX+ fill “an important gap given there are nearly 600 million Spanish speakers around the globe.”
TelevisaUnivision will offer a seven-day free trial of ViX+ for users in the U.S., Mexico, and the rest of Latin America where the service is available. ViX+ will be available on platforms including Apple iOS and tvOS, Android mobile and Android TV, and via the web on vixplus.
Here’s a rundown of ViX+ content highlights at launch:
- “La Mujer del Diablo” (The Devil’s Woman): Drama series follows Natalia Vallejo (Carolina Miranda), an elementary school teacher with dreams of leaving her town to pursue a tourism career, and Cristo Beltrán (José Ron) is a high-ranking criminal who appears to be the town’s benefactor. When he becomes obsessed with Natalia, who’s in love with another man, he does the unimaginable to seduce her.
- “María Félix: La Doña” (first two episodes available July 21): The story of iconic actor Mexican actor and singer Maria Félix from her early days to her rise to fame and beyond. Starring Sandra Sandra Echeverría and Ximena Romo.
- “Mi Vecino El Cartel”: Three-part docuseries explores how the murder of drug-cartel attorney Juan Guerrero Chapa uncovered the tentacles of the Mexican cartels in the U.S., and how organized crime turned the affluent world of Southlake, Texas, upside down.
- “Mirreyes contra Godínez 2, ‘El Retiro’”: Sequel to “Mirreyes contra Godínez,” a blockbuster Mexican 2019 comedy, in which two factions battle for control of a company. In the new movie, things are going well until a tempting offer comes along that again pits the team against each other — and they travel to a corporate retreat to try to reunite as a team. Starring Daniel Tovar, Regina Blandón, Diana Bovio, Michelle Rodríguez, Christian Vázquez, Alejandro de Marino, Gloria Stalina, Roberto Aguirre, Carlos Ballarta and Dominika Paleta.
- “Enfermo Amor” (Sick Love): Premieres July 27. Movie following the love lives of nine couples, whose troubles span infidelity, breakups and boredom. The Mexican ensemble cast includes: Estefanía Hinojosa, Gonzalo Vega Jr., Natalia Téllez, Luis Arrieta, Jesús Zavala, Paco Rueda, Cassandra Sánchez Navarro, Daniel Tovar, Camila Sodi, Alejandro de la Madrid, Eréndira Ibarra, Alberto Guerra, Mónica Huarte, Andrés Palacios, Fernanda Castillo, Adriana Louvier, Maya Zapata and Juan Pablo Medina.
On the sports front, ViX+ will feature exclusive live Liga MX matches in both the U.S. and Mexico. In addition, ViX+ will feature more than 200 exclusive live Liga de Expansión MX and Liga MX Femenil matches per year in both the U.S and Mexico. It will be the only streaming service with coverage of UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Conference League matches in Spanish in the U.S. ViX and VIX+ will be the Spanish-language home of all UEFA National Team competitions, notably UEFA Nations League, Euro Qualifiers, UEFA Euro and the Finalissima.
In Mexico, ViX and ViX+ will be the digital destination of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. In the U.S., ViX+ also will provide coverage of women’s soccer, including the U.S. Women’s National Team and Mexico’s Women’s National Team. ViX+ will feature in the U.S. South America’s top domestic soccer leagues including Brasileirão Championship, Argentina’s Liga Profesional de Fútbol, Colombian Primera División and Perú Liga 1.
Pictured above: Cassandra Sánchez Navarro, Daniel Tova in “Enfermo Amor”
