Mexico's Televisa to merge content with Univision

Mexico’s largest broadcaster, Televisa, announced on Tuesday it plans to merge content with Univision, the largest Spanish-language network in the U.S.

The two will form a new company, Televisa-Univision, with plans to launch a streaming platform.

They say it will carry series, movies, sports and signature “telenovela” soap operas from both.

Televisa will be the largest shareholder in the new company and will contribute its content assets, valued at nearly $5 billion dollars.

Univision will pay $3 billion in cash and the rest in equity.

Televisa’s board chairman Emilio Azcarraga says the new company plans to launch the streaming platform early next year.

Although it will compete with services like Netflix and Hulu, Azcarraga said the platform will be for the "significantly underserved Spanish-language market.”