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Weeks before the first whistle of the World-Cup, Juan Carlos Rodriguez, the president of Univision Communications' sports division, presented difficult: Could his engineers learn how to broadcast its football programs into American houses faster than its English-language adversaries to them?

About a half-million dollars in new technologies afterwards, the process was fulfilled -- broadcasts that were Univision's beat beat ESPN's and ABC's, if only by a matter of seconds.

"If I were Univision today, I would be asking myself, Where are we headed?" stated Emiliano Saccone, the former head of MundoFox, another comparative newcomer to the Hispanic marketplace. "Can we keep up our realm the manner we have for the past 50 years? My experience is, maybe not automatically."

Telemundo outbid Univision for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, busting the Spanish-language Univision has kept over the tournament. Telemundo has additionally been investing in its telenovelas. Its biggest hit at the moment, "El Senor de los Cielos" ("The Master of the Skies" wink , of a Mexican drug lord, occasionally attracts bigger audiences than Univision's competing drama in an identical timeslot. Not too long past, that would have been inconceivable, according to Spanish-language TV specialists.

For Mr. Rodriguez, that felt like enough to lure away some viewers. "Who doesn't want to howl 'Goal!' five or six seconds before their neighbours?" Mr. Rodriguez said within an interview from Brazilian.

Mr. Falco, who took charge at Univision 3 years past after senior positions at NBC and AOL, symbolizes the business's desire to be seen as a mainstream media business. The company's chief is a 60-year old Bronx native who doesn't talk Spanish.

The numbers function in the sudden increase of Us's Hispanic population during the past two decades as a-kind of exclamation point. It is a demographic change that has been evident in voting work patterns and trends. Today the World-Cup has demonstrated how it's reshaping the landscape also.

"We are seen as a Spanish-language broadcaster that largely competes with Telemundo," the company's chief executive, Randy Falco, stated. "But in my view, we should really be contending with the english language systems because progressively we shall have an audience that can surpass ESPN."

Yet the exact same shifting demographics that help Univision also threaten its dominance. Other media firms are now trying to reach the growing Hispanic population, especially Telemundo, which has its parent company, Comcast,'s strong sources behind it.

The unparalleled publicity it has received from the World-Cup cannot have come at a better moment. Mr. Perenchio, an onetime Hollywood agent, observed the potential of Spanish Language tv in 1992, when he bought Univision for just $500-million.

Twenty million dollars would be a high price for a Spanish Language media business. But on any given night , telenovelas -- stories of love, sex, cash and treachery, imported entirely from Mexico -- may attract more viewers than english language networks like Fox and NBC. The network's governmental influence was confirmed by it when a presidential newsgroup was hosted by it during the last campaign, and it is poised to play with an even bigger part in the 2016 competition.

Mr. Saban and his partners are now exploring the chance of a deal in the middle of a flurry of big press business mergers. In recent months, they have talked to no less than CBS, Time-Warner and two large companies, about marketing Univision for around $20 billion. They're also contemplating an initial public offering of inventory.

Univision, that was commenced as a nearby TV station in 1955, is today a sprawling media conglomerate based in Ny, reaching almost 100 million television homes across America.

A confluence of variables that were other -- some purposeful, some serendipitous -- have also worked to the network's edge. Legions of football supporters used loading that was free to Univision's to covertly watch matches on their workplace computers or cell phones. A handful of Latin-American teams, including Costa Rica and Mexico, performed astonishingly well in the championship. And some non-Hispanic viewers only prefer the network's excitable experts, who work themselves into a frenzy whenever a participant crosses midfield with the basketball, never mind drives it in to the rear of the internet: "Mamita querida que GOOOLLLAZZZOO!"

Edgar Martinez of Univision preparing for a broadcast. The World-Cup has set viewing records. Credit Lianne Milton for The New York Times

The World Cup has been a record-breaking function for Univision, that has dominated its TV competitions in several of the biggest cities in America -- Los Angeles, Miami and Houston. It even won the Nyc market for many games.

Acculturation presents a much greater threat that is long term. Many recognize themselves culturally as American and mature multilingual. Univision will have to compete for their focus alike, with every-other media store and British.