By Mike Cavender, RTDNA Executive Director

Reports this week that Disney and Univision may be joining forces to create the next 24-hour cable news channel, to broadcast in English, is the latest nod to efforts to harness a huge—and growing demographic in this country—the English-speaking Hispanic audience.

In an interview on CNBC following Disney’s quarterly earnings report, Chairman Robert Iger wasn’t talking about the idea. But the Wall Street Journal and other outlets were reporting that if the deal gets done, the joint venture would be based in Miami, where Univision is located, and could be up and running in time for the November elections.

From a dollars and cents standpoint, the concept is a bet on the continued growth of U.S. Hispanic consumers and that their spending will continue to outpace the rest of the American population.

To be sure, Disney and Univision face challenges in getting such a channel launched as well carried on a sufficient number of cable systems to make the effort truly viable. Disney, of course, owns some very successful brands—not the least of which is ESPN—the most popular cable channel in the country.  That may help provide leverage with cable operators. Disney’s  ABC News, which would be a centerpiece of the joint effort, can provide Univision with additional global resources while helping amortize its own news gathering costs via an additional channel—and another revenue stream.

ABC News and Univision are already cooperating on some efforts, such as election polling.  And Univision is on record saying it plans to create new cable channels, including a news channel.  It’s also begun providing English subtitles to some of its very popular soap operas, known as telenovelas. There seems little question the two companies see a lot of opportunity with the English-speaking Hispanic market.

Such a venture, though, will have to go up against a lot of competition for news eyeballs—FOX News, CNN, MSNBC, as well as smaller, niche players like CNBC, Bloomberg and Fox Business News.  The viewer has a lot of choices already.

Still, the idea of a powerful network like Univision combining with the brand strength of a Disney could add up to a successful venture.  If and when it launches, the marketplace will ultimately decide its fate. 

But in the end, if the result is another channel that provides viewers with more news, more information and more and varied perspectives—one thing is certain--that is definitely good news!