A roughly two-month battle that saw every broadcast and cable TV channel tied to TelevisaUnivision — including non-owned over-the-air Univision and UniMás affiliates — get pulled from virtual MVPD YouTube TV due to a bitter retransmission consent impasse has ended.
The company’s two main broadcast TV networks, along with sports-focused cable offering TUDN and heritage general-interest MVPD-distributed channel Galavisión, have been restored to both the YouTube TV Base Plan and Spanish Plan.
Affected YouTube TV channels
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Additionally, the streaming service ViX is now available for purchase through YouTube’s Primetime Channels.
According to TelevisaUnivision, a multi-year distribution deal has been reached. “We are pleased to have reached an agreement that restores Univision to YouTube TV, ensuring millions of Hispanics can access the news, sports, and entertainment they care about and have relied on for over 70 years,” said Daniel Alegre, the company’s CEO. “This agreement recognizes the essential role that our content plays in the daily lives of our viewers, as we fulfill our mission of reflecting the voice of Hispanics. We look forward to serving YouTube TV subscribers again.”
In late September, Google’s plans to drop the Univision broadcast television network from its main bundle on YouTube TV saw Alegre attack the “Big Tech” giant for discrimination against Hispanics. As the virtual MVPD saw it, the TelevisaUnivision leader was distorting what amounted to a retransmission consent dispute.
YouTube TV’s move to drop the channels proved to be a direct rebuke to Alegre, who penned an open letter imploring, “Do the right thing Google. Don’t discriminate against Hispanics.”
That was under the guise of a bump of Univision to a premium tier on YouTube TV, which is rapidly growing thanks to its relationship with the National Football League. Alegre pointed specifically to how Spanish-language consumers would be required to pay an 18% “Hispanic tax” for access to programming such as Despierta America and Univision-branded news content, in addition to its soccer coverage, tentpole events and telenovelas.
That never happened. Instead, YouTube TV dropped every TelevisaUnivision station, an unprecedented move that came just days after Telemundo parent NBCUniversal was able to reach a new carriage agreement with YouTube TV.
