Univision tunes up new Simon Cowell format

Singing format impresario Simon Cowell is launching his latest venture into the genre with Spanish-language US Hispanic channel Univision.

La Banda is a boy band competition reality series that will launch on the high-rating network in 2015. It comes from Cowell’s Syco Entertainment and scour both the US and Latino markets to build a boy band represented by Sony Music Latin and Syco Music.

Syco TV will have international distribution rights.

This comes soon after Cowell’s Fox reality singing series The X Factor was cancelled. American Idol remains on air, however. It wasn’t immediately clear if he would appear in La Banda.

“I’m delighted to be partnering with Univision on this new format,” said Cowell. They are fantastically ambitious and most importantly for La Banda.

“They are totally focused on discovering and creating the next music superstars. There is a huge opportunity for this band and we are going to be giving the power via this show to the millions of teenage fans.”

“Univision’s collaboration with Simon Cowell’s Syco Entertainment is part of our commitment to innovation and to raising the bar in entertainment for our audiences and partners,” said Alberto Ciurana, president, programming and content, Univision Communications.

“La Banda will tap into Hispanic America’s passion for music unlike any other program on television and will bring millions of fans the next international musical sensation.”

Univision used its Upfront yesterday to claim it was “frequently the number one television network in America, regardless of language”.