Fusion (TV channel)

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 (then a division of Westinghouse) 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 (a subsidiary of Turner Broadcasting System, which has been under TimeWarner's control since 1996), 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 (the channel would be given its name, Fusion, in February 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 (roughly the age bracket of adults 18–34), 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 (a "common language" among millennials according to host Alicia Menendez) 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 lighteartedness has been evident in Fusion's primetime lineup: America with Jorge Ramos, in its first week alone, has taken a more conventional approach, featuring interviews with President Barack Obama and United States Senator Ted Cruz, while Alicia Menendez Tonight has featured more personal and less serious topics, and programs including No, You Shut Up have 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 (billed by staffers as the "Newsport") that is shared with Noticias Univision. Additionally some resources are also shared with ABC News and Noticias Univision (the above-mentioned interview of President Obama, conducted by ABC News correspondent Jim Avila, was one such example of that reliance). 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 will eventually feature all original programming, repurposed content from ABC News and Univision content airs on the channel during late night timeslots, along with paid programming (which has since departed the schedule completely).

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.

Programming

The initial schedule on Fusion includes programs intended for a younger audience than most cable news shows attract, many of which feature the lively, irreverent approach the network intends to make its hallmark. The network has added new shows and made adjustments since its launch, and carries the following shows as of November 2015:

Former shows

Executive leadership

Key hires

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".

Carriage and content distribution

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. Currently the channel on Dish Network airs only in 480i SD. 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. The network also plans to have a mobile app for use in smartphones and tablet computers up and running.