Pantaya was an American OTT streaming service targeted for Hispanic and Spanish-language viewers.[1] Content included programs and films released in Latin America and original programming, as well as Spanish dubs from Lionsgate's select catalogue.[2][3]
The streaming service was available in the United States and Puerto Rico, and content can be accessed globally through other streaming services such as Amazon's Prime Video.[4][1][2]
After the acquisition of Pantaya by TelevisaUnivision in May, 7 months later in December, Pantaya ceased its services, and notified users about the switch to ViX.
Pantaya was launched in August 2017 in a joint venture between Lionsgate and Hemisphere Media Group.[2] Paul Presburger was appointed as CEO of the streaming service, who is also CEO of Pantelion Films.[4] Lionsgate has owned 75% of the streaming platform while Hemisphere owned 25% at the time.[1] In 2019, the platform has reached 500,000 subscribers.[4] In that same year, Pantaya has expanded into producing original programming, starting with El juego de las llaves which debuted in August of that year.[5][4]
In 2021, Hemisphere Media Group has acquired full ownership rights to the Pantaya streaming service from Lionsgate for $124 million, following the latter's decision to focus on the expansion of its Starz brand.[1] Lionsgate's CEO Brian Goldsmith has stated that the studio was "very proud to have helped build Pantaya into the leading premium Spanish-language platform in the U.S.," and added that Hemisphere Media Group was "the right owner".[1] Additionally, Hemisphere CEO Alan Sokol said that the company is aiming for expansion. "There's so much more we can do, and the opportunity is so much greater," Sokol said. "We've set a stated goal of 2.5 to 3 million subscribers by 2025. But honestly we feel that's a conservative goal and that the opportunity is two to three times that."[6] As of April 2021, there are 900,000 subscribers to Pantaya.[1]
More recently, she had signed a deal with actress Fernanda Castillo, whereas the actress would star in Pantaya's upcoming projects.[7]
In May 2022, TelevisaUnivision reached a deal with Hemisphere Media Group to acquire Pantaya, targeting the platform in order to fortify their own ViX streaming service.[8][9] The acquisition was completed on September 13 of that year.[10]
