It’s hard to speak about satirical publication The Onion without rolling eyes or a quick sigh of disbelief, but this particular story is actually real.
According to NPR, the publication is set to join Univision Communications Inc., the parent company to the nation’s leading Spanish-language broadcast channel.
“Univision will acquire a 40 percent, controlling stake in The Onion, which includes the site, its influential sister popular-culture outfit The A.V. Club, the social media satire site Clickhole and various book and video projects. Univision also will have the right to buy the humor company outright.”
Naturally, people didn’t believe the news right away.
@mathewi @FortuneMagazine Is this a real story or an Onion story? Asking for a friend.
— Ted Carroll (@mediainvestors) January 19, 2016
@AP bad idea. spanish speaking individuals might not understand and believe it as a real news source
— FEELSGOOD2BHI (@kennyblanco_) January 19, 2016
While it does come as a surprise, this actually could be a move to save the network. Univision is established as the dominating Spanish-speaking network, but its core fan base is primarily the older generation as younger viewers tend to gravitate to more English-speaking media. Univision launched the English-language Fusion network in a previous effort to reach younger, English-speaking Latinos.