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English-Language News Launched By Univision, ABC

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Let's update you now, on a new partnership in the news business. ABC News and Spanish language TV network Univision have announced they're joining forces. They're creating a multiplatform news service. The language will be English. The target is Latino audiences.

As NPR's Mandalit del Barco explains.

MANDALIT DEL BARCO, BYLINE: The new joint venture hopes to capture part of a fast-growing demographic: U.S.-born Latinos who prefer to get their news in English. Ben Sherwood, who heads ABC News, says he's excited to team up with the Spanish language media giant Univision. He says the programming will include news and information delivered by some new and some familiar faces.

BEN SHERWOOD: You're going to see some of the great journalists from ABC news: Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters, George Stephanopoulos, Robin Roberts, Elizabeth Vargas. You'll also see some of the great anchors and correspondents from Univision, including Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas.

BARCO: ABC and Univision executives discussed this move for more than a year, hoping to begin in time to cover the presidential election. But the new 24-hour TV network won't be on until after the New Year. The new digital platform, online and on mobile devices, are set to begin this summer.

(SOUNDBITE OF A UNIVISION NEWS CLIP)

BARCO: Univision news anchors said the network is reaching beyond its usual Spanish-speaking audience. And the news was received warmly on ABC's "Good Morning America."

(SOUNDBITE OF "GOOD MORNING AMERICA")

BARCO: Mandalit del Barco, NPR News Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

As an arts correspondent based at NPR West, Mandalit del Barco reports and produces stories about film, television, music, visual arts, dance and other topics. Over the years, she has also covered everything from street gangs to Hollywood, police and prisons, marijuana, immigration, race relations, natural disasters, Latino arts and urban street culture (including hip hop dance, music, and art). Every year, she covers the Oscars and the Grammy awards for NPR, as well as the Sundance Film Festival and other events. Her news reports, feature stories and photos, filed from Los Angeles and abroad, can be heard on All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Weekend Edition, Alt.latino, and npr.org.
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