Viacom to Launch Pluto Latino for U.S. Hispanic Market on July 1

The U.S. market debut of the Spanish language product will be followed by a release in Latin America in early 2020.

Pluto TV Latino, an ad-supported streaming platform that features Spanish-language channels, will launch July 1, Viacom CEO Bob Bakish revealed Tuesday.

Viacom paid $340 million for Pluto TV, the streaming video upstart, in January and has aggressively used the acquisition to bolster Viacom's network of brands.

The Spanish-language Pluto Latino, which previously had been set for a summer 2019 launch, will first target the U.S. Hispanic market before it is rolled out to Latin America and other international markets next year.

"We will launch a U.S. Hispanic product on July 1 as Pluto Latino, and we will launch in all of Latin America at the beginning of calendar 2020, so it really is an international product," Bakish told the Credit Suisse Annual Communications Conference.

He also told investors that, after a recent deal with Comcast to include Pluto TV as part of its Xfinity Flex offer, Cox Communications will launch Pluto TV on Cox Contour.

And Bakish hinted at a third deal with a major distributor already inked and shortly to be unveiled.

The aggressive rollout of Pluto TV comes as Disney, WarnerMedia and Apple get set to roll out their own streaming services to compete against Netflix and Amazon.