TelevisaUnivision’s ViX Taps Emmy-Winning News Anchor-Journalist Jorge Ramos for New Interview Show (EXCLUSIVE)

Anna Marie de la Fuente
·3 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Jorge Ramos, the star anchor and Emmy-winning journalist of U.S. Hispanic giant Univision for decades, will host a new celebrity interview program on ViX, the fledgling AVOD streaming service launched by TelevisaUnivision, the media juggernaut formed by the merger of Mexico’s Televisa and Univision early this year.

“Algo Personal con Jorge Ramos” (“Something Personal with Jorge Ramos”) is set to bow Sunday April 24 at 10 p.m. ET and will be available in the U.S. and most of Spanish-speaking Latin America.

More from Variety

“This is a new welcome challenge for me,” said Ramos, adding: “After spending almost all of my career talking to presidents and politicians, this is a great opportunity to talk, unhurried, with writers and artists about their innermost motivations. It’s truly something personal, for them and for me.”

“I love the chance to reach, through ViX, a brand-new audience in the U.S. and Latin America. After more than 40 years as a journalist, this is an exciting change for me. People haven’t seen me like this before,” he added.

The first season of the interview program kicks off with Mexican actor, comedian and filmmaker Eugenio Derbez, who starred in “CODA,” this year’s winner of the best picture Oscar as well as adapted screenplay and supporting actor (for Troy Kotsur).

Season 1 also features up close and personal chats with renowned singer-songwriters Alejandro Sanz, Carlos Vives, Joan Manuel Serrat, Sebastián Yatra and pop rock band Maná as well as celebrated authors Mario Vargas Llosa and Isabel Allende and top soccer player, Javier “Chicharito” Hernández.

“Jorge is truly an icon of the Latino culture and a world-class journalist, and we are honored to welcome him to the ViX family and offer his first streaming show exclusively on our free AVOD tier,” commented Pierluigi Gazzolo, president of TelevisaUnivision and chief transformation officer.

“Throughout his career, Jorge has interviewed global leaders, celebrities, and other notable figures, speaking truth to power, and making him one of the world’s most trusted and respected journalists,” concurred Leopoldo Gómez, president of news at Univision.

“With ‘Algo Personal con Jorge Ramos,’ we will showcase a side of Jorge you’ve never seen before; in an intimate, innovative, and dynamic format where he will talk to an array of Latino personalities in deep and compelling interviews that are highly personal,” Gomez added.

The ad-supported ViX, which launched March 31, offers up to 100 channels and more than 40,000 hours of video-on-demand content that encompasses news, entertainment and sports.

It will be followed later this year by ViX Plus (Vix+), a premium, subscription-based offer that has signed on a bevy of prominent Spanish-language producers in the run-up to its launch. They expect to offer some 10,000 hours of exclusive content and more than 50 original series and films in the first year.

First-look content deals have already been set up with Salma Hayek’s Ventanarosa Productions, Derbez and Ben Odell’s 3Pas Studios as well as with Vargas Llosa, Santiago Limón and Propagate’s Ben Silverman.

Selena Gomez will also produce an original docu-series for ViX Plus. Lemon Films has agreed to produce four shows for the upcoming service, which will include a feature film, a reality show and two fiction series. Furthermore, Colombia’s Dynamo and Mediacrest are rebooting horror series “La Hora Marcada” and Spain’s The Mediapro Studio has agreed to a multi-title deal.

Best of Variety

Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.