Judge orders Univision to return to Charter
Details
Gabriel Miramar-Garcia
| 03 February 2017

Little more than a day after pulling its station feeds from Charter Communications, Hispanic broadcaster Univision has been ordered by a judge to restore them.

Univision sued Charter in July after its $80 billion mega-merger with Time Warner Cable — Charter began paying the grandfathered rate that TWC had paid, which was lower than what Charter’s original footprint had contracted for. TWC had 11 million video customers, so it paid a smaller per-station rate compared to Charter’s 4.1 million because of volume discounts, essentially.

Amid the legal squabbles, the two have been negotiating for months, until Univision, claiming a deadlock, pulled its feeds on Wednesday. However, a judge has issued a temporary restraining to Charter for seven days.

“This order only lasts until 9 February, when the judge permanently assigned to the litigation is back in court,” Univision said in a statement. “For the seven-day period that it is receiving Univision’s services, Charter Spectrum will be required to post a bond covering the actual market value of Univision’s programming, rather than the inadequate rates that Charter Spectrum has been paying.”

Univision is the largest Spanish language broadcaster in the US, with about 23 stations across the country. It reaches 2.5 million Hispanics on Charter’s system, and says that Charter has a public obligation to provide for its carriage.

“Charter has an obligation to its customers to provide them with access to content that is in-language and in-culture, which is vitally important during these politically volatile times,” Univision said. “This is part of a continuing fight against mega mergers to ensure that there are diverse voices and opportunities for minorities in the media marketplace. Univision’s top priority remains steadfast: providing critical news and information to empower and serve the Hispanic community. We are ready to resume good faith negotiations immediately and hope Charter will do what is right for its Hispanic customers.”