In a blow to its Spanish-speaking customers, DISH Network dropped most of Univision Communications’ networks and stations off its services indefinitely.
The removal of the channels followed DISH’s rejection of an offer from Univision that would have extended the parties’ existing contract to allow renewal negotiations to continue without interrupting viewers’ access to Univision content.
The DISH blackout impacts Univision Network, the third most-popular network in any language among DISH subscribers, and its affiliated stations, as well as UniMás and its affiliated stations and Galavision, which are also highly rated channels for Spanish-speaking viewers. DISH also pulled seven Univision channels from its Sling TV streaming service—Univision, UniMás, Galavision, Univision Deportes Network (UDN), El Rey Network, TLNovelas and Foro TV. UDN is the second most-watched sports network on DISH. [1]
DISH’s refusal of an extension to continue providing its customers access to Univision’s Spanish-language and Hispanic-serving networks is puzzling given DISH’s extensive marketing to Hispanic consumers and its claims regarding the importance of Latinos to its services.
“Univision’s networks and stations play an outsized role in DISH’s success with Hispanic consumers, and our programming is some of the most popular, regardless of language, among DISH subscribers,” said Univision’s Jessica Herrera-Flanigan, Executive Vice President, Government & Corporate Affairs. “Despite the success of our programming with its customers, DISH insists on paying Univision only a fraction of what it pays our English-language peers, including some with far fewer viewers. They even dismissed Univision’s most recent proposal, which still asks for considerably less than our English-language peers are paid.”