Time Warner Inc. Chief Executive Richard Parsons is looking at Univision Communications Inc. as the Spanish-language broadcaster considers a sale, according to an interview published in the Wall Street Journal on Friday.
Univision said last week it is exploring a sale of the company, drawing interest from media conglomerates keen on entering the fastest growing sector of the media market. The company's market value is nearly $10 billion.
"Firstly, something that big and that significant, you have to take a look at it," Parsons told the Journal. "So we are looking at Univision as is the rest of the Western world."
News Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch said his company would examine Univision but noted he had no "specific intentions." Other potential suitors cited by analysts include Walt Disney Co., CBS Corp. and Mexico's Televisa.
While Univision's position as the dominant media outlet for U.S. Hispanics makes it attractive, Parsons cast doubt on the growth prospects for what is basically a traditional broadcast business in an age of rapid media change.
"I can see the growth in Univision for the next three to five years," Parsons said. "But it does seem to me at some point in time it flattens out, and then you have this big thing that has gone flatter. And I don't know where the growth comes from after that."
