Univision Deportes goes dark on Dish
Details
Michelle Clancy
| 14 November 2018

Univision Deportes has become the latest Spanish-language network to be blacked out on Dish Network in the US.

After failing to reach a carriage deal with the programmer, the sports network joins Univision’s main broadcast channel and its cable networks Galavison and UniMas in being inaccessible to Dish customers With it goes access to more than 1,100 top soccer matches and major tournaments each year.

Dish customers are also now losing Univision's FOROtv, TLNovelas and El Rey channels, which were also covered under the same carriage deal.

Univision said the failure by Dish to reach a deal for Deportes could mean bigger subscriber losses for the satellite company going forward; Dish already lost about 367,000 satellite TV customers in the third quarter.

“Given that Dish experienced its worst-ever quarterly subscriber losses after dropping the bulk of Univision’s networks and stations, its unwillingness to recognize the power of Hispanic consumers and the popularity of Univision’s leading news, sports and entertainment programming is bizarre and disappointing,” Univision said in a statement. “Moving forward, we will continue to use the full power of the Univision portfolio to encourage our audience to find a TV provider that is dedicated to serving Hispanic America.”

Dish fired back: “Univision has blocked Deportes, FOROtv, TLNovelas and El Rey from DishLatino customers. The Univision story remains the same: its content, on the whole, continues to decline in viewership, and as a result, the economics of their proposals do not make sense. Meanwhile, Univision continues to sell its direct-to-consumer product, Univision NOW, at a lower price than Univision proposes charging Dish customers. We don’t think that’s right.”

Dish is offering giving DishLatino customers a $5 monthly credit and free antennae to receive Univision’s broadcast content over the air.