Dish and Univision Communications said Tuesday they reached an agreement ending a long blackout of the Spanish language broadcaster to satellite subscribers.
The companies said that restoration of the Univision channels will begin immediately.
Dish dropped Univision’s lifestyle cable networks in April and its main broadcast network in June. Univision Deportes went black in November.
“We want to thank our Dish customers for their patience as we worked to reach an agreement that is fair to all parties, especially our customers,” said Dish CEO Erik Carlson. “For more than 20 years, Dish has led our industry in serving the U.S. Hispanic community, and today’s announcement is reflective of our commitment to delivering quality content at the right value.”
In addition to Univision’s broadcast networks, the dispute left Dish subscribers without UniMas, Univision Deportes, Galavision, Tinovelas and FOROtv.
“We are pleased to have reached an agreement with Dish that recognizes the value of our top-rated networks and stations,” said Univision CEO Vince Sadusky. “We look forward to once again providing Dish and DishLatino customers with the news, sports, and entertainment content they love. Thank you to our loyal audience for your unwavering support.”
The dispute hurt both companies.
Dish reported losing 334,000 subscribers in the fourth quarter, in part because of blackout of Univision and HBO.
During the fourth quarter, Univision reported a $73 million loss, in part because of the Dish dispute. Subscriber fee revenue was down 17.7% and advertising revenue declined 5%.
