About

Grupo Televisa is the largest media company in the Spanish-speaking world, with a revenue of $5.3bn. The legal team has been part of its leading position and growth, predominantly focusing on M&A negotiations and supporting the company through a time of regulatory change. With Televisa being such a highly-regulated company, the team is recognised for their achievements in adjusting and complying with the irregular regulations applicable to Televisa under the new rules. The team is led by vice president legal and general counsel Joaquin Balcarcel who, according to one source, ‘successfully steered Televisa’s migration into the new regulatory regime applicable to broadcaster and telecommunications carriers’. The large team of 110 people, mostly made up of lawyers, has overseen a number of transformative transactions. One such transaction was the successful sale of Televisa’s 50% stake in wireless carrier lusacell to Salinas for $717m. Recently the company has been in talks with US-based Univision to enter into a closer cooperation between the two media companies. In order to enhance their ability to serve a combined audience of approximately 175 million viewers in the US and Mexico, with an aggregate purchasing power of close to $2tn, Televisa replaced their head of content José Bastón with Isaac Lee, head of news and entertainment and digital operations at Univision. This move will allow the two companies to combine their production of content, whilst increasing their competitiveness. Televisa currently owns a 10% stake in Univision, but has received competition approval to acquire up to 40% in the future should it wish to. The team has driven this merger forward by providing the legal oversight and risk management that is vital for all media organisations.