TelevisaUnivision and YouTube TV have struck a new multi-year carriage deal to restore the Spanish-language network owner’s programming on the Google-owned platform.
Univision, UNIMÁS, TUDN and Galavisión will be available on YouTube TV’s base and Spanish plans. TelevisaUnivision’s ViX streaming service will also be offered through YouTube TV’s Primetime Channels, which will also be extended to Mexico for the first time.
Additionally, TelevisaUnivision and YouTube will expand expand their partnership through new initiatives to bring the former’s content to a broader, global audience, including new bundled offers.
“We are happy to share that we’ve reached a new agreement with TelevisaUnivision across YouTube and YouTube TV,” a YouTube TV spokesperson said in a statement. “In addition to restoring their channels to YouTube TV, this new agreement will offer their streaming service, ViX, to more countries around the world through our Primetime Channels. We are also excited to partner with TelevisaUnivision to grow their presence across YouTube by bringing more content to YouTube’s global audiences and new bundled offers to the marketplace.”
“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,” TelevisaUnivision CEO Daniel Alegre added. “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.”
The resolution comes after TelevisaUnivision’s programming had previously been dark on YouTube TV since Sept. 30.
The Spanish-language network owner previously accused Google and YouTube of attempting to remove Univision from its core line-up and move it to a Spanish-only add-on package — a move it called “discriminatory” and an “abuse of its market power” and claimed it would force millions of Hispanic households to pay 18% more for its local news, live sports and entertainment content.
YouTube TV fired back that its carriage decisions are based on viewer consumption and pricing and that it offered a renewal that was “in line with the performance of their channel and the value of this content to YouTube TV subscribers today.” The network’s content is available on YouTube’s main platform, where they have more than 10 million subscribers. On average, there were over 9 billion views of Spanish-language content daily on the main YouTube app globally in June.
The feud had caught the attention of President Donald Trump, who said the programming blackout was “VERY BAD for Republicans in the upcoming midterms” and asked Google to restore TelevisaUnivision’s programming for “the purposes of FAIRNESS.”
The latest renewal for YouTube TV comes after it struck new deals with Fox, NBCUniversal and Disney. With over 8 million subscribers, it is one of the largest pay TV operators alongside Charter Communications, Comcast and DirecTV and the largest virtual multichannel video programming distributor (vMVPD).
