Deadline: TelevisaUnivision And DirecTV Reach Multi-Year Carriage Renewal, Expanding Distribution To New Pay-TV Packages

Story from Deadline:

TelevisaUnivision and DirecTV have reached a multi-year carriage renewal, expanding their distribution agreement to encompass new pay-TV packages.

The deal provides the roughly 11 million customers of DirecTV with networks from the Hispanic media giant, including Univision, UniMás, TUDN and Galavisión, as well as owned and operated local stations.

DirecTV, which is owned by private equity firm TPG, has also been pushing forward with a strategy to offer pay-TV packages of various sizes at different price points. Offering those options has not been easy in the traditional era of distribution deals, but the rates of cord-cutting have made both programmers and operators more willing to question the usual assumptions.

The new agreement includes an example of the new approach in DirecTV’s MiEspañol Genre Pack, which features more than 60 Spanish-language channels, including Univision, UniMás, TUDN and Galavisión. MiEspañol will also expand soon to include TelevisaUnivision streaming service ViX Premium with Ads at no additional cost beyond the $34.99 monthly subscription price.

“We’re excited to expand our partnership with DirecTV, reflecting the continued dedication to our audience and the recognition that Hispanics are a fast-growing part of mainstream America,” said Mike Angus, EVP of Global Distribution and Partnerships at TelevisaUnivision. “This deal not only ensures our industry-leading content reaches millions of viewers but also solidifies our position as the definitive leader in media among U.S. Hispanics.”

The agreement comes at a time of continued tensions between distribution partners, given the rates of cord-cutting and the need to increase scale for direct-to-consumer streaming. TelevisaUnivision and internet-delivered pay-TV service Fubo hit a carriage impasse last December, resulting in the blackout of the company’s channels. DirecTV and Disney clashed last September and 11 million customers lost access to ABC, ESPN and other channels at the start of the college and NFL football season. The deal struck by the companies, which gave DirecTV the right to create genre packages, established a template for the TelevisaUnivision deal.

-“Whether it’s news, live sports, telenovelas and general entertainment, local civic affairs or any of its other key genres, TelevisaUnivision is synonymous with some of the very best in Spanish-language programming,” said Rob Thun, Chief Content Officer at DirecTV. “We look forward to continuing what has proven an important and mutually beneficial relationship for the next several years.”