Fusion TV


Fusion TV is an American pay television news and satire channel owned by Fusion Media Group, a multi-platform media company that is owned by Univision Communications, which relies in part on the resources of its parent company's news division, Noticias Univision. In addition to conventional television distribution, Fusion is streamed online and on mobile platforms to subscribers of participating cable and satellite providers.
Launched on October 28, 2013, the network's content features news, lifestyle, pop culture, satire and entertainment aimed at English-speaking millennials, including those of a Hispanic background; the channel is Univision's first major push into English-language programming. Fusion is based in "NewsPort", a converted studio facility at 8551 NW 30th Terrace in the Miami suburb of Doral, Florida, that it shares with Noticias Univision and Univision flagship station WLTV-DT; it maintains additional studios in Los Angeles and bureaus in Mexico City, New York City, and Washington, D.C.

Background

Apart from being Univision Communications' first attempt in the world of English-language cable networks before El Rey Network, Fusion is ABC News' third attempt in the world of 24-hour cable news. In 1982, ABC News and Group W first launched a 24-hour news channel called Satellite News Channel. But due to low clearance from cable systems, both of them sold the channel after just over a year on the air to CNN, which shut it down. Twenty-two years later, in 2004, ABC News launched ABC News Now, which encountered the same problem.

History

In December 2010, the newly appointed president of Noticias Univision, Isaac Lee, announced plans to start a 24-hour English language cable news channel aimed at American Hispanics. Univision Communications would later on, in late 2011, enter into discussions with Walt Disney Company-owned ABC News about entering into a joint venture to develop the channel. The discussions bore fruit with the companies' formal announcement of the channel on May 8, 2012, initially projecting a debut during the first half of 2013. On October 4, 2013, the company announced it had named Isaac Lee as Chief Executive Officer to replace interim CEO Beau Ferrari.
Fusion's formal launch date and its initial programming schedule was announced on August 1, 2013. The channel formally launched on October 28, 2013, buoyed earlier in the day by a simulcast of ABC's Good Morning America and Univision's ¡Despierta América! designed to promote Fusion's launch and programming. After leading off with a three-minute musical number at 6:57 p.m. Eastern Time on October 28, 2013, Fusion began regular programming with the debut of America with Jorge Ramos.
Fusion's target audience consists mainly of millennials, a group generally regarded as digitally fluent and normally favors social media and internet sources to gain news and base opinions, usually eschewing traditional broadcast and print sources. To that end, Fusion gears its programming less towards the constant coverage of breaking news, instead emphasizing context and analysis on news and issues, along with interviews, documentaries, and long-form reports on current events, lifestyle, and pop culture. Fusion also employs an on-air blending of serious topics and discussions that is, more often than not, laced with irreverence and humor that aims to reduce the air of pretense and seriousness with which other news outlets treat current topics and issues. The "fusion" of seriousness and lightheartedness has been evident in Fusion's primetime lineup: America with Jorge Ramos, in its first week, took a more conventional approach, featuring interviews with President Barack Obama and United States Senator Ted Cruz, while other early Fusion shows Alicia Menendez Tonight featured more personal and less serious topics, and programs including No, You Shut Up ventured towards irreverence and even satire.
Fusion was originally conceived to primarily attract a younger audience of an English-speaking Hispanic and Latino American background; about one-fifth of millennials are classified as being of Latino descent and have generally been well-acclimated with English language society in the United States, either as emigrants or as U.S. nationals by birth. After receiving some backlash during development over concerns that too much of a focus was placed on ethnicity, Fusion would broaden its scope during its development, aiming to "engage and champion a young, diverse and inclusive America," regardless of cultural or language background. Isaac Lee, who serves as Fusion's CEO in addition to President of News for Univision, has stated that Hispanic millennials see themselves as part of the broad American culture and that "they want to be part of the same room and part of the same conversation" as non-Hispanics.
Fusion operates out of a former warehouse in Doral, Florida that is shares with Noticias Univision, WLTV-DT and WAMI-TV. Additionally some resources are also shared with ABC News and Noticias Univision. However, the network operates separately from ABC's and Univision's news divisions, employing its own on-air talent, correspondents, management, production staff and board of directors. Univision handles programming responsibilities for Fusion, while Disney-ABC Television Group provides advertising sales and handles cable and satellite distribution for the channel. ABC News president Ben Sherwood noted that while the channel would eventually feature all original programming, repurposed content from ABC News and Univision content aired on the channel during late night timeslots in its early months, along with paid programming.
In December 2015, it was reported that Disney was in talks to sell its stake in Fusion to Univision. The transaction was complete on April 21, 2016.
The company laid off a large portion of its workforce on November 16, 2016, ahead of the channel's anticipated reorganization in which the assets of Gizmodo Media Group and The Onion would form the new core of the station's programming.
On July 24, 2017, Fusion relaunched its article based online presence under the brand "Splinter" while things relating to the channel itself remained at Fusion.net branded as Fusion TV. The article based half of Fusion's website content switched to the Fusion.kinja.com domain in May prior to the re branding. Splinter was later sold by Univison to G/O Media and on October 10, 2019, announced they were ceasing publication.

Programming

The initial schedule on Fusion included programs intended for a younger audience than most cable news shows attract, many of which featured the lively, irreverent approach the network originally intended to make its hallmark. The network has added new shows and made adjustments since its launch, and carries the following shows as of July 2017:
ProgramDescription
Big Papi Needs a JobReality TV series following retired baseball player "Big Papi" David Ortiz as he attempts different jobs.
Cheddar on Fusion TVBusiness, tech, entertainment and media news live from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Rude TubeBritish television program that covers humorous online clips presented by English comedian Alex Zane.
Strange MedicineA medical news program hosted by Dr. Juan Rivera, Univision's Chief Medical Correspondent who trained at the prestigious Johns Hopkins Hospital.
The A.V. ClubProgram highlighting topics at The A.V. Club, hosted by John Teti.
The Cannabusiness ReportProgram looking at the business, facts and culture of legalized marijuana by Gonzo journalist Ryan Nerz.
In Living ColorRepeats of the American sketch comedy television series.
Drug WarsA look at the elite law enforcement fighting drug trafficking.
Naked TruthInvestigative series featuring different topics per episode featuring Fusion correspondent Natasha Del Toro.
Nightline on FusionA Fusion version of the ABC show Nightline.
OutpostTravel show.
Show Me SomethingJorge Ramos hits the road with politicians, business leaders and artists in search ways of seeing the world.
The Fusion FeedWeekly program featuring a diverse set of contributors who weigh in passionately on subjects ranging from politics to pop culture.
The TraffickersShow that looks at the black market place and smuggling across the world.

Former shows

Executive leadership

Towards its one-year anniversary, a series of high-profile hires of digital-native journalists created high expectations for the young media company. NPR's David Folkenflik called Fusion "One of the most interesting experiments we've seen in television since the Emergence of Fox News Channel". Those hires were later laid off or moved to Splinter as the focus of the channel changed and the website split off.
By the time that Disney-ABC and Univision announced the channel's name – Fusion – on February 11, 2013, the channel already signed carriage agreements with major pay television providers including Verizon, Cablevision, Charter Communications, Cox Communications, AT&T U-verse and Google Fiber. Fusion replaced ABC News Now on most cable systems; that network ceased operations on October 28, 2013, the day of Fusion's debut.
The channel is primarily carried on the digital basic tiers of participating providers, and premiered to a reach of approximately 20 million homes, one-fifth of the total U.S. households with subscription television services. Fusion is currently seeking carriage on additional providers, with deals pending or not yet reached with notable providers including Comcast and Time Warner Cable. The channel was added to the Dish Network lineup after a new carriage deal was reached between Dish and Disney. On the week of September 22, 2014, Fusion was placed in test mode on DirecTV channel 342 in preparation for launch on the carrier along with sister channel the Longhorn Network. As of November 13, 2014, Longhorn Network and Fusion were removed from test mode as DirecTV and Disney/ESPN were unable to at that time reach a carriage agreement. On December 23, 2014, DirecTV announced a wide-ranging distribution agreement with Disney to carry Fusion in early 2015, The channel went live on January 21, 2015. Fusion's goal, according to Board of Directors member and ABC News president Ben Sherwood, is to reach 60 million homes within five years of its debut.
In addition to its on-air presence, Fusion posts nearly all of its content online through its Fusion.net website and is available via on demand content on Apple TV.
On January 10, 2020, Dish Network removed the channel from the lineup. On January 23, 2020, DirecTV and AT&T U-verse both removed the network from their lineup.