TUDN, formerly known as Univision Deportes Network, is an American Spanish languagesports channel. Owned by Univision Communications, it is an extension of the company's sports division of the same name. It launched on April 7, 2012, along with Univision Tlnovelas and FOROtv. The network's main properties include major soccer events in the Americas, including per-team coverage of Liga MX, the Spanish portion of the Major League Soccer package, the Copa América, and CONCACAF's Champions League and Gold Cup events. In 2018-19, it also became the Spanish rightsholder of the UEFA Champions League. The channel has ties with the Mexican sports channel of the same name, sharing some of its programming. Before July 20, 2019, when the Mexican counterpart was known as Televisa Deportes Network, the channel was referred to as UnivisionTDN during these programs. In 2019, it was announced that TDN and UDN would jointly relaunch as TUDN—signifying a greater amount of collaboration between the two channels. As of February 2015, approximately 39.7 million households receive the channel. Univision stated per Nielsen ratings that TUDN was the sixth-highest rated U.S. sports channel in 2019 in terms of average primetime viewership.
History
In May 2011, Univision Communications announced three new cable television channels to strengthen its position in the Latino market and diversify revenues, including one dedicated to Soccer and other sports. It signed a deal with the Dish Network in January 2012 to carry the channels via satellite. The channel dedicated to sports was named Univision Deportes Network. On May 11, 2012, AT&T U-verse signed a carriage agreement with Univision Communications to carry the channel, along with Univision Tlnovelas. At launch, it offered a secondary network known as Univision Deportes Network Dos airing repeats of matches and studio programming, which was exclusively carried by Dish, but is currently defunct. In May 2019, it was announced that both Univision Deportes Network and Televisa Deportes Network would be jointly rebranded as TUDN. The new branding is a combination of abbreviations TDN and UDN, but the first two letters are also pronounced as the Spanish adjective "tu", allowing the name to also be read as "Tu deportes network". TUDN will be promoted as a multi-platform brand, and there will be closer collaboration between the American and Mexican channels—allowing for expanded studio programming in the morning and daytime hours. Univision Deportes Network officially rebranded as TUDN on July 20, 2019.
Programming
The network's signature program is Univision Deportes Fútbol Club, an hour-long sports update show hosted by Xavi Sol alongside Félix Fernández and Hristo Stoichkov. There was a late-night version of the program hosted by Alejandro Berry with various rotating analysts. The two editions of Fútbol Club differed by tone and style, with the early evening version being more lighthearted and comedic, while the late night version consisted of a round table discussion regarding the day's action. The latter version was later renamed "Linea de Cuatro". TUDN broadcasts home games for 16 of 18 teams in the Liga MX, away matches for the rest of the teams and playoff games. The weekly Saturday night program – Fútbol Central hosted by Edgar Martinez – features football highlights and previews matches from the Mexican league. Other competitions covered include the CONCACAF Champions League and Major League Soccer. Rights to MLS games in 2012 are shared with sister networks Galavision and UniMás. In January 2016, Univision acquired Spanish-language rights to UEFA tournaments beginning in 2018, including UEFA Euro 2020 and the UEFA Nations League, with the channel planned to be involved in coverage. In 2017, Univision acquired Spanish-language rights to the UEFA Champions League and Europa League beginning in 2018-19. In 2013, it acquired the U.S. Spanish-language rights to Formula One.
Univision Deportes Network, Univision, UniMás, Galavisión and Univision Tlnovelas were dropped by AT&T U-verse on March 4, 2016, due to a carriage dispute. This did not affect DirecTV Customers, as this was done in a different contract. All of Univision's channels were returned to the U-verse lineup on March 24, 2016.
