AP reports that Mexican media giant Televisa and the social networking website hi5 plan to provide TV programming free online in Latin America.
Registered hi5 users will be able see Televisa programming on a new hi5 page as soon as this summer, the San Francisco-based company said. Many of the sports, soaps and other shows are already available on Televisa’s website, but the partnership is intended to boost both companies’ audience, hi5 spokesman Mike Trigg said.
The page won’t be accessible in the U.S., though, where Televisa and its one-time partner Univision are battling over Internet distribution rights. Grupo Televisa SA is the world’s top producer of Spanish-language TV programming.
Internet use grew 16.6 per cent in Latin America last year, nearly triple 5.7 per cent growth seen in Canada and the U.S., according to comScore Inc., an Internet researcher. Televisa and hi5 already reach more than 33 million users in Spanish-speaking Latin America, or 63 per cent of the market, both companies said.
Hi5 was the world’s 12th most-visited website by page views last year, according to comScore, and Trigg said the site has more than five million unique users in Mexico. A spokesman for Televisa could not confirm financing details for the partnership, but hi5 supports itself largely by advertising.