César Conde, president of Univision Networks
Walt Disney Co. and Univision Communications Inc. are in talks to create a new 24-hour cable-news channel that will broadcast in English.The new channel would mark a big strategic shift for Univision, which since its beginnings five decades ago has been defined by its Spanish-language broadcasts.The new initiative is spearheaded on the Disney side by ABC News president Ben Sherwood and on the Univision side by Univision Networks president César Conde, the people familiar with the negotiations said. During his participation in the Thought Leadership conference at NATPE, Conde said that the company was considering new ventures on broadcasting in English, perhaps this is one of them.Recently all the Univision primetime started featuring English closed captions on CC3 in a effort to get closer to its bilingual audience.