What is Última Hora?
Última Hora is a daily newspaper published in Asunción. Its own account of its founding states that the first edition appeared on the afternoon of Monday 8 October 1973, that it was launched by Editorial El País under Pablo Rojas, and that the journalist Isaac Kostianovsky was given the direction of the project.[1][2] The same account states that the Rojas family had acquired the publishing house in the 1950s.[1]
On ownership the paper's own fiftieth-anniversary piece of 8 October 2023 states: “En 2003, ÚH pasa a formar parte del Grupo Vierci, luego de que el empresario Antonio J. Vierci ingrese como socio mayoritario de la Editorial El País.”[2] Reporters Without Borders, in its 2026 country entry for Paraguay, names Grupo Vierci as one of “four large companies — Grupo Cartes, Grupo Vierci, Grupo Zucolillo and Grupo Albavisión” that it says “control the traditional press and own most of the newspapers, radio stations and TV channels”.[3]
A study of Paraguayan print journalism published by Ventana Abierta, the journalism review of the Universidad Católica, on 7 August 2025 describes the paper's present structure as separate teams for print and digital content with social platforms and a podcast studio, and without radio or television operations.[4]
What does Última Hora cover?
It is a general daily — politics, national news, business, world news and sport — and its sport is published under a separate masthead. That sports site is published at d10.ultimahora.com, on the newspaper's own domain, and its footer reads “Copyright D10.ULTIMAHORA.COM | Todos los derechos reservados | Asunción, Paraguay”; the anniversary piece itself does not name the sports title in its text.[2][5]
That sports title describes itself as “Noticias del deporte de Paraguay y el mundo, las 24 horas” and runs sections for the domestic league, international football, and other sports including tennis, chess, motorsport and futsal, with standing pages for Olimpia, Cerro Porteño, Libertad and Nacional and for the national team.[5]
The sports title's own pages carry standings and statistics alongside the written report, and video and podcast output, so the group's sport is published as a site in its own right rather than as a section of the newspaper's front page.[5]
The paper's own newsroom also covers the press as a subject: its report on ABC Color's fiftieth anniversary is published under its masthead, which is one way the two Asunción dailies document each other.[6] The Ventana Abierta study of August 2025 sets the two side by side as the two cases through which it examines the change in Paraguayan print journalism.[4]
How large is Última Hora's audience?
No audited circulation or digital audience figure for Última Hora could be retrieved for this page.
The one print figure the paper itself publishes in its anniversary account is historical rather than current: it gives a run of 60,000 copies at a reopening in 1979, and gives no present-day circulation or digital measurement.[2]
The Ventana Abierta study of 7 August 2025 examines the newsroom's organisation rather than its reach and publishes no circulation, audience or staff figures for the paper.[4] Reporters Without Borders' 2026 country entry gives Paraguay's index position — 88th of 180, score 54.67 — but no outlet-level audience data.[3]
Since when has Última Hora existed?
The paper gives 8 October 1973 for its first edition, and gives the same date in both its fortieth-year recollection and its fiftieth-anniversary piece.[1][2] The Ventana Abierta study gives the same founding date and names Isaac Kostianovsky in connection with it.[4] That is the outlet's own date, carried by one independent academic source.
The change of ownership is dated separately by the paper itself: 2003, when Antonio J. Vierci became majority shareholder of Editorial El País.[2] Founding, ownership and masthead changes are three different dates and are kept apart here.
Why does Última Hora matter in Paraguay's sport?
Its significance for sport is structural: the group publishes a dedicated sports title rather than a sports section, so the daily's sports reporting appears under the D10 masthead and on its own subdomain.[2][5]
That title carries results the governing bodies themselves also publish — its report of 5 December 2023 on the fútbol de salón world final in Mexico gives the 6-1 win over Uruguay and lists the four titles it credits to Paraguay, in 1988, 2003, 2007 and 2023.[7]
For a reader weighing any Paraguayan outlet's sports pages, the ownership anchor matters and is dated: Reporters Without Borders' 2026 entry names the group in its own sentence on concentration, and the paper's own 2023 anniversary piece dates its entry into that group to 2003.[3][2]
References
- Última Hora — En 1973 el diario ÚLTIMA HORA empezaba a contar la historia (first edition 8 October 1973; Editorial El País; Isaac Kostianovsky). Accessed 2026-09-23.
- Última Hora — Última Hora celebra 50 años del inicio de un compromiso diario (8 October 2023; first edition 8 October 1973; Grupo Vierci from 2003). Accessed 2026-09-23.
- RSF — Paraguay country page, 2026 Index (rank 88 of 180, score 54.67; four groups named on ownership). Accessed 2026-09-23.
- Ventana Abierta (Universidad Católica) — Transformaciones del periodismo tradicional en Paraguay: los casos de ABC Color y Última Hora (7 August 2025). Accessed 2026-09-23.
- D10 — d10.ultimahora.com, home page: self-description and section list. Accessed 2026-09-23.
- Última Hora — El diario ABC Color cumple hoy 50 años (8 August 2017; names Aldo Zuccolillo and Editorial Azeta S.A.). Accessed 2026-09-23.
- D10 — Paraguay es tetracampeón del mundo (5 December 2023; 6-1 v Uruguay in Tecate, Mexico; titles listed for 1988, 2003, 2007 and 2023). Accessed 2026-09-23.