Venevision maintains Univision deal

Venezuelan distributor Venevision International has maintained that it plans to keep its multi-year output deal with US Hispanic broadcaster Univision, despite Televisa’s looming court battle with the network.

Venevision International has a deal with Univision, which is now owned by a private equity conglomerate fronted by billionaire entrepreneur Haim Saban, that lasts until 2017 to offer its talk shows, variety shows and telenovelas. Its current raft of dramas include Nunca Te Dire Adios (I’ll Never Say Goodbye) and Besos Robados (Bought Love).

However, Mexican media group Televisa, which also has an output deal with Univision, claims that Univision is in breach of its contract and is set to take the company to court in March.

But Luis Villanueva, president and CEO of Venevision International, told TBI Vision it has no plans to follow. "We have an exclusive agreement with Univision. For the time being and until 2017, we will continue to serve our exclusive agreement with Univision," he said.

Venevision, along with Televisa, failed in its attempts to acquire Univision last year. Analysts believe that Televisa is trying to extricate itself from its agreement in order to allow it to set up a rival US Hispanic network. But Villanueva says it has no such plans. "Nothing has changed. We simply are no longer shareholders of Univision," he added.