Noticiero Univision

As the Spanish International Network (SIN), KMEX began broadcasting news programs in June 1986, when the network debuted a weeknight newscast, Noticiero Nacional SIN ("SIN National News"), which originally aired as a single half-hour broadcast each weeknight at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

In 1987, after Spanish International Network co-founder Emilio Nicolas, Sr. and Emilio Azcárraga Milmo (co-owner of Mexican broadcaster Televisa, who assumed part-ownership of SIN from his father Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta in 1972) sold their interests in parent company Spanish International Communications to Hallmark Cards after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the U.S. Justice Department asked them to divest the network to a U.S.-based company amid inquiries into Nicolas' use by the Azcárraga family to skirt agency rules prohibiting foreign ownership of broadcast media outlets, In 1987, the network – which was renamed Univision following the purchase – appointed former NBC News producer Roberto FE Soto to produce a revamped flagship evening newscast, Noticiero Univision.[4]

Mexican-born journalist Jorge Ramos – who joined SIN/Univision in 1987 as host of the network's first morning program, Mundo Latino – was reassigned and paired alongside newly hired veteran journalist María Elena Salinas – who replaced Teresa Rodriguez as anchor – to co-anchor the evening newscast.[4] In 1989, the program expanded to include a late-evening newscast, Noticiero Univision: Edición Nocturna ("Univision News: Evening Edition"), at 11:30 p.m. Eastern Time, which was solo anchored by Ramos throughout its original run; as well as two half-hour weekend editions under the title Noticiero Univision: Fin de Semana. For much of its existence, the late-night edition maintained a similar format to the early-evening broadcast, albeit with more of a focus on major news headlines and utilizes separate anchors on the weeknight editions.

In 1999, Univision hired veteran journalist Enrique Gratas – original host of the Telemundo newsmagazine Ocurrió Así – to anchor a revamped late-night newscast, Noticiero Univision: Ultima Hora ("Univision News: Final Time"); Sergio Urquidi was subsequently appointed as weekend anchor of Noticiero Univision and Ultima Hora. Debuting on October 25 of that year, the hour-long Ultima Hora (which reverted to a half-hour format in 2004) was modeled after the original format of Nightline, providing in-depth stories and analysis on three or four of the day's major news stories that were previously covered on the flagship evening newscast – occasionally covering late-breaking stories which had occurred since that broadcast – and interviews with newsmakers.[5]

Noticiero Univision intro, used from January 23 to December 31, 2012.

In the summer of 2004, Telemundo signed María Antonieta Collins – who had been anchor of the weekend editions of Noticiero Univision since their inception – to a long-term contract to host a morning news and lifestyle program for the network, Cada Dia with Maria Antonieta ("Every Day with Maria Antonieta") (Collins would return to Noticias Univision as a senior special correspondent in 2011[6]). On October 24, 2005, Edna Schmidt – then the national news anchor of the Noticias al Minuto newsbriefs on sister network TeleFutura (now UniMás) – was named as Collins' replacement as co-anchor of the weekend newscasts, joining Urquidi on the early evening edition.[7]

On February 28, 2009, Univision terminated the contracts of Enrique Gratas and Sergio Urquidi as part of corporate cutbacks enacted by parent company Univision Communications spurred by the Great Recession and a sharp downturn in advertising spending, which resulted in the layoffs of 300 employees (or 6% of its workforce), as well as the cancellation of the weekend editions of the newsmagazine Primer Impacto and its companion program Primer Impacto Extra. The late-night edition retained the Ultima Hora brand, though restoring a more traditional newscast format.[8][9] On May 29, 2009, Enrique Teuteló – then the 11:00 p.m. anchor at Univision's Miami owned-and-operated station WLTV-DT – was named as Urquidi's replacement on the weekend editions of Última Hora and Noticiero Univision: Fin de Semana.[10]

On March 3, 2011, Univision correspondent Martin Berlanga announced while substituting during that evening's edition of Ultima Hora that he would taking over as weekend anchor, replacing Enrique Teuteló, who was terminated by the news division the day prior (he would subsequently become morning co-anchor at the network's New York City owned-and-operated station WXTV-DT that June). Then on March 7, the network announced that Ilia Calderón would be named anchor of the late evening edition, which was retitled Noticiero Univision Edición Nocturna, while retaining her duties as co-anchor of Primer Impacto.[11][12] After a brief sabbatical from the weekend editions, Edna Schmidt was subsequently reassigned to weeknight co-anchor of the late newscast, before being let go by Noticias Univision after 19 years with the network on September 11, 2011, while in New York City to cover the ceremonies in remembrance of the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.[13]

On January 10, 2012, Univision removed Berlanga from his duties as anchor of the weekend newscasts after only ten months, effective after the January 15 edition of Fin de Semana, in which Berlanga did not indicate he would no longer anchor the weekend broadcasts; he was reassigned to a correspondent role, before Berlanga departed from the network after 17 years in March.[14][15][16] ¡Despierta América! news co-anchor Félix de Bedout and longtime Televisa anchor/correspondent Lourdes Ramos (sister of main anchor Jorge Ramos) were concurrently named as his replacements; originally slated to start together on January 21, de Bedout debuted that week as solo anchor of the Saturday and Sunday editions, with Ramos joining him on the following week on January 28.[17][18]

On January 23, 2012, the program introduced a new graphics package; it also relocated production of Noticiero Univision and Edición Nocturna to a new set branded as "[el] Centro de Noticias" ("[the] News Center"). The set was later updated to incorporate the new version of Univision's universal corporate logo, which debuted on January 1, 2013.[19]

On April 23, 2012, former Telemundo anchor and special correspondent Enrique Acevedo joined Univision as a co-anchor of Noticiero Univision: Edición Nocturna (at which time, the late editions of the weekend broadcasts adopted that same title), alongside Ilia Calderón.[20][21] In September 2012, Univision began to timeshift the Saturday early-evening editions of Noticiero Univision: Fin de Semana one hour earlier in the Eastern, Central and Mountain Time Zones (at 5:30 p.m. Eastern and 4:30 p.m. in the other two) since 2012, following the addition of soccer matches that precede Univision's prime time variety programming, on weeks in which those matches are scheduled to air within the newscast's regular 6:30/5:30 timeslot.

On October 1, 2012, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences honored main anchors Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas with Lifetime Achievement Awards at the 33rd News & Documentary Emmy Awards for their journalistic work with Noticiero Univision and its parent news division.[22] In September 2013, Univision moved production of its evening newscasts to the Univision NewsPort, based in a converted former office and warehouse complex near Univision's network headquarters in the Miami exurb of Doral, Florida that would also house the operations of Fusion, Univision's cable news venture with ABC News. The NewsPort houses five studios and five control rooms, one of which – located directly next to the newsroom offices – began housing the "Centro de Noticias" set in February 2015, following completion of the set's reassembly in the NewsPort building; all Noticias Univision broadcasts were conducted from the newsroom in the interim.[23]

On July 14, 2014, Lourdes Ramos stepped down as weekend co-anchor to relocate to Madrid with her husband, although she would remain with Noticias Univision as a special correspondent.[24] On September 3, 2014, Noticias Univision announced that Arantxa Loizaga (who joined the network in 2007 from San Antonio owned-and-operated station KWEX-DT, where she served as anchor of its 10:00 p.m. newscast and co-host of the community affairs magazine program, Portada San Antonio) would become co-anchor of Noticiero Univision: Fin de Semana, effective Saturday, September 6.[25][26]

• Official website (Spanish)
• Noticias Univision