Mexico’s Televisa reports first-quarter boost in net profit on Univision fusion By Reuters

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The logo of broadcaster Televisa is seen outside its headquarters in Mexico City, Mexico, March 9, 2017. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido

(Reuters) – Grupo Televisa, Mexico’s largest broadcaster, on Tuesday posted a big jump in first quarter net profit versus a loss in the same period a year earlier, boosted by discontinued operations related to its content merger with Univision.

The company posted a first quarter net profit of 52.6 billion pesos ($2.65 billion) compared to a loss of 584 million pesos in the same period in 2021.

The company’s revenue increased 3.3% from the year-earlier period to 18.6 billion pesos, according to a statement filed with the Mexican stock exchange.

Televisa completed its fusion with Univision on July 31 to create TelevisaUnivision, a new firm that combines content from both broadcasters.

Sales for satellite television service SKY fell 6.2% while usage fell 13.6%, Televisa said. There were 175,000 disconnections in the quarter. Televisa’s cable segment posted sales growth of 1.1% and usage growth of 3.0%.

TelevisaUnivision launched a free ad-based version of its new streaming platform ViX in March, which will compete with established rivals like Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:) and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:)’s Prime Video.

The subscription-based tier, ViX Plus, is due to launch in the second half of the year.

($1 = 19.8911 pesos by end-March)