[9] Univision's roots can be traced back to 1955, when Raoul A. Cortez started KCOR-TV, an independent station in San Antonio, Texas, which was the nation's first Spanish-only TV outlet.

[10] The station was not profitable during its early years, and in 1961, Cortez sold KCOR-TV – now known as KWEX-TV – to a group headed by Mexican entertainment mogul Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta, owner of Mexico-based Telesistema Mexicano (the forerunner of Televisa).

From 1963 until 1987, SIN was managed from offices in New York by Rene Anselmo, a U.S. native who had worked for Azcárraga in Mexico City for eight years as head of Telesistema's programming export subsidiary.

[12] Over the next 15 years, SIN and SICC would create other top-rated Spanish-language television stations throughout the United States; these included KTVW in Phoenix and KDTV in San Francisco (both owned by Anselmo) and a part-time affiliation with WCIU-TV in Chicago.

[15][16] In 1994, the network purchased English-language independent WGBO-TV after WCIU-TV turned down Univision's request to become a full-time affiliate in favor of maintaining its longtime multi-ethnic programming format.

Spanish International Communications ultimately began discussions with various prospective buyers, culminating in Hallmark Cards (which owned a 63.5% interest), private equity firm First Chicago Venture Capital (which acquired 21.5%) and several other private investors (which collectively owned the remaining 15% held in a trust) purchasing the SIN stations for $600 million, while forming a new relationship with Televisa for the distribution of programs; the new group also adopted a new name for the network, Univision.

[27][28] On April 8, 1992, Hallmark sold Univision to a group that included Los Angeles-based investor A. Jerrold Perenchio (a former partner in Norman Lear's Embassy Communications, who was outbid by the Hallmark-led consortium for the network in 1987), Emilio Azcárraga Milmo, and brothers Ricardo and Gustavo Cisneros (co-owners of Venezuelan broadcaster Venevision) for $550 million, in order to refocus its television operation efforts on cable provider Cencom Cable Associates, which it acquired the previous year for about $500 million.

[30] The sale raised concerns by several Latino activist groups such as the National Hispanic Media Coalition – which subsequently filed a petition to the FCC to deny the sale of Univision and its television stations – that it would lead to a drastic reduction in Univision's domestically originated programming output in favor of lower-cost, imported Latin American content, and allow Azcárraga to potentially expand control of American Spanish language television in the manner of Televisa's near-monopoly in Mexican media.

The FCC expedited its review of the deal, and approved the purchase on September 30, 1992, stating that the consortium was quantified to acquire Univision and that it was "unconvinced" by the petitioners' arguments that it would dilute the amount of American programming on the network.

Under Banojian, the network increased monetary investments in the stations, expanding staff and resources, introducing new sets for its newscasts, hiring and appointing KVEA's main anchor Jesus Javier, reporter Pepe Barreto also from KVEA, as well as hiring Andrea Kutyas, joining news anchor Eduardo Quezada, who worked at KMEX from 1975 to 2003, to lead and reshape KMEX's 11 p.m. newscast, which became the #1 late news in the Los Angeles Market.

[13] The following year, the network appointed former Housing and Urban Development secretary Henry Cisneros as its president and CEO, a post he remained in until his resignation in 2000 to head American CityVista, a contracting company that builds residential communities in inner cities.

In June 2002, Univision acquired Dallas-based Hispanic Broadcasting Corp., owner of Spanish language radio stations in markets such as New York City (WADO), Los Angeles (KLVE), San Antonio (KGSX, now KMYO) and Dallas (KESS), in a $3.5 billion all-stock transaction.

During the 2000s, Univision also lost several key on-air personalities to Telemundo, including longtime weekend news anchor María Antonieta Collins (who left to host the morning program Cada Dia), Primer Impacto anchor María Celeste Arrarás (who became the host of a similarly formatted newsmagazine, Al Rojo Vivo) and sports announcers Andrés Cantor (known to many Americans for his exuberant announcement of "Goal!"

Other key on-air personalities that join Telemundo from Univision or Televisa in the 2000s are Lucero, Pedro Fernandez, Kate del Castillo, Aracely Arámbula, Raúl González, Blanca Soto, Laura Flores, Ana María Canseco, Cristina Saralegui, Fernando Fiore, Rodner Figueroa, who was fired for making reference from the movie Planet of the Apes, to Michelle Obama, Barbara Bermudo, who was laid by network, Don Francisco, Natalia Cruz, Maria Elena Salinas, who was stepped down in December 2017 after 36 years of news service, Arantxa Loizaga Lourdes Stephen, Felix Fernandez, who was laid off by network, Jorge Ramos, who was stepped down in December 2024 after 40 years of news service and Maity Interiano, who was laid off by network.

[74] More than 80 organizations, including prominent Latino groups such as the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), America’s Voice and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, signed an open letter to Davis and other TelevisaUnivision executives, sharply criticizing the interview.

After Sabado Gigante ended its 29-year run on the network, Univision continued the Saturday evening variety tradition with its move of the Televisa-produced music and game show Sabadazo – which it had aired on Saturday afternoons since the show moved from sister network TeleFutura (now UniMás) in September 2012 – into part of Gigante's former time slot on October 17, 2015, before reverting to an afternoon slot and being replaced by the investigative news program Crónicas De Sábado after four months due to low ratings.

The captions are intended to attract Hispanic viewers and others who are not fluent in Spanish, and primarily appear during the network's evening telenovela block each Monday through Friday from 7:00 to 11:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Time.

[79][80] Prior to Univision gaining these captions, competing network Telemundo has carried English subtitles during its entire weeknight prime time schedule from September 2003 to October 2008 and again since March 2009.

[85] Since 2013, Univision has edited various telenovelas aired within its prime time schedule if a telenovela does not garner sufficient ratings; as such, scenes from a single program (such examples include Qué Bonito Amor ("Beautiful Love"), La Tempestad ("The Storm"), De Que te Quiero, te Quiero ("Head Over Heels") and La Malquerida ("The Unloved")) comprising 1½ to three episodes are sometimes removed and combined to fit into a one-hour timeslot.

"), the late afternoon newsmagazine series Primer Impacto (which originally aired as a seven-day-a-week broadcast until 2007, and produces a condensed half-hour edition Primer Impacto Extra, which airs in place of late local newscasts on affiliates without their own news department or which choose to preempt regularly scheduled local newscasts on certain holidays) and the Sunday morning talk show Al Punto ("To the Point").

Univision had other plans for the moribund show: the network revamped its format, changed its name and its theme music, and hired Puerto Rican-born María Celeste Arrarás as a weekend reporter to serve as Dellanos' partner; the retooled newsmagazine series became Primer Impacto ("First Impact") in February 1994.

The network's first foray into children's programming, "Univision Infantiles", and featured Spanish-language dubs of the Japanese anime shows (Future Boy Conan and Voltron: Defender of the Universe).

Following an agency investigation resulting from complaints by the United Church of Christ and the National Hispanic Media Coalition during license renewal proceedings for a Univision-owned television station in 2005, in February 2007, the FCC levied a $24 million fine – the largest single FCC fine filed against any corporation to that point – against the network's 24 owned-and-operated stations for circumventing federal guidelines requiring broadcast television stations and networks to air at least three hours of educational programming aimed at children by claiming the novelas (with the Televisa-produced Cómplices Al Rescate ("Friends to the Rescue") specifically cited as one example, due to the incorporation of occasional adult themes in some plotlines and complex subplots that were not suitable for younger children) as compliant educational programs in Children's Television Act filings for 116 weeks between 2004 and early 2006.

The fine was paid as a component of a settlement that preceded the FCC's approval of Univision's acquisition by Broadcasting Media Partners Inc. to resolve then-pending license renewal applications for O&Os WQHS-TV in Cleveland and KDTV in San Francisco.

As Telefutura, the network carried a similar programming format, including telenovelas produced by Televisa, Coral Productions, Venevision, RCTV, RCN and Rede Globo.

[119] The channel carries a mix of first-run and repeat broadcasts of telenovelas sourced from Televisa's program library, in El Canal y las Estrellas, including those that were never previously aired in the United States, as well as content produced by Univision.

On October 29, 2012, Univision launched UVideos, a multi-platform streaming service – which incorporates a user interface accessible to and advertising aimed at both Spanish and English speakers – that originally encompassed a dedicated website at UVideos.com and a mobile app for smartphones and tablet computers supporting the Apple iOS and Android platforms (with programs streamable over 3G and WiFi networks).

[120] The service provides full-length episodes of Univision programs (including those produced by Televisa) as well as programs aired on sister networks UniMás and Galavisión, with the most recent episodes usually being made available for streaming on the service (as well as Univision on Demand) the day after their original broadcast to subscribers of participating pay television providers (such as Comcast, Verizon FiOS and Time Warner Cable) using an ISP account via an authenticated user login.

[128][129][130][131] Designed as a standalone offering that does not require an existing pay television subscription in order to access, the service is initially available via a dedicated website (univisionnow.com), as well as apps for iOS and Android devices.

Univision launched its high definition simulcast feed at 12:02 a.m. Eastern and Pacific Time on New Year's Day, January 1, 2010, on its East and West Coast flagship stations in New York City and Los Angeles, WXTV-DT and KMEX-DT.