Over a week ago on June 30, 2018, Univision pulled their channels from Sling TV and DISH. According to DISH, the issue is a 75 percent price hike Univision is asking for. When asked to comment on the 75 percent price hike claim Univision told Cord Cutters News their channels are worth more and should be compensated like the big four of ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC.
According to DISH, “ratings for its flagship Univision channel have declined nearly 40 percent since 2012.” DISH went on to say, “despite the direct-to-consumer Univision Now app costing $7.99 per month, Univision is asking DISH to pay almost double that amount for its DishLATINO and Sling Latino customers to watch the same content.”
Univision sent Cord Cutters News the following statement:
We remain ready and willing to negotiate with DISH, but we will not roll over and let them continue to devalue the programming our already-underrepresented community relies on. Given the fact that our networks perform extremely well on their service, the question becomes: why doesn’t DISH treat Univision fairly?
So, what is next? This is unknown territory. So far no live TV streaming service has had a blackout like this and seen the channel return. DISH seems firm in their stance that they don’t want to pay 75 percent more. Univision also seems firm.
The question now is who will blink first. Will the contract-free nature of services like Sling TV mean people who want Univision will leave? Or will the growth of cord cutting and the use of antennas see DISH come out victorious by keeping their price down as people use antennas to watch Univision.
We will have to wait, but if you are a cord cutter this is a fight to keep a close eye on.
Update: Univision just sent Cord Cutters News the following statement:
“We have not heard from DISH since we offered an extension on June 30. Given DISH’s track record, we are concerned that the blackout of services appears to be a common tactic for this company. We stand ready to receive an offer from DISH that does not devalue our Spanish-language content relative to our English-language peers.”
How important is Univision? Have you switched away from Sling TV because of the blackout?
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