About

Telemundo history, coverage, features

Telemundo is an American Spanish-language television network that broadcasts in the USA and syndicates programming in several markets outside the United States. It was founded in 1984 and is owned by the NBCUniversal division, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, broadcasting telenovelas, films, reality television, news, and—most importantly—live sports.

The network was initially named NetSpan upon its launch before being rebranded to Telemundo in 1987. Additionally, the network has undergone several acquisitions since its launch, with Liberty Media and Sony Pictures Entertainment securing a controlling interest in 1997 before NBC acquired Telemundo in 2001.

Telemundo’s primary demographic is the Hispanic community, both in the USA and worldwide through its syndicated programming. As a result, the network broadcasts telenovelas and series. Additionally, Telemundo boasts a sports division, Telemundo Deportes, which handles live sports coverage on both Telemundo and the sister pay-TV channel, Universo.

This includes soccer matches from the Mexican top-flight soccer league, Liga MX, as well as qualifying matches for the Olympics. Additionally, the popular English Premier League has regularly featured on Telemundo, thanks to the network’s broadcast agreement with NBC Sports.

Telemundo has thus delivered live Spanish-language coverage for some of the Premier League’s biggest clubs, such as Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, and more. Likewise, the network acquired the U.S. Spanish-language rights to the FIFA World Cup in 2014, bringing another flagship tournament to the network’s airwaves.

This deal was reportedly worth $600 million, running from the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup to the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup in the USA, Mexico, and Canada. This deal also included other FIFA-sanctioned tournaments, such as the U-17 and U-20 World Cups, as well as the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.

Once again, through an agreement with NBC, Telemundo secured Spanish-language rights to "Sunday Night Football," thus bringing NFL primetime games to its airwaves.

Telemundo, which broadcasts in up to 1080i HDTV, has enjoyed cable, satellite, and streaming television availability, with DirecTV, Dish, Spectrum, Xfinity, Cox, Fubo, and Hulu + Live TV picking up the network. Select Telemundo Deportes events have also been available to stream on NBCUniversal’s flagship streaming service, Peacock.

Furthermore, Telemundo is available for free to both Telemundo and non-Telemundo subscribers via the free Telemundo app. The app is available for download on iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, as well as smart TVs, desktops, streaming devices, and select gaming consoles.

It should be noted that while a selection of Telemundo’s programming is available for free via the Telemundo app, certain content requires a subscription to a participating television provider in the United States. With the Telemundo Deportes and Telemundo Deportes En Vivo apps no longer existing, both were incorporated into the Telemundo app.