Univision Communications announced on Friday that it had agreed with AT&T to extend the access until 1 a.m. E.T. on Wed., March 16. “The two companies will continue to work to reach agreement on a new contract,” Univision reported in a statement.
Univision, the biggest Spanish-language broadcaster in the U.S., went dark for 5.6 million AT&T U-verse customers back on March 4. AT&T and the programmer are battling over the cost of Univision’s channels.
This is the latest temporary ceasefire between the two companies. Last week, the programmer temporarily unblocked its channels for the Democratic presidential debate for AT&T U-verse subscribers. However, choice words were exchanged between them prior to that.
“If, as the most popular Spanish-language broadcaster, we do not take a stand and require the distributors treat us on par with English-language broadcasters, what does that mean for the minority and independent creators that come after us?” Jessica Herrera-Flanigan, EVP, government relations and public policy at Univision said in a statement on March 7.
Jim Cicconi, AT&T senior executive vice president of external and legislative affairs, responded back by pointing out that the access was pulled by Univision. “AT&T remains committed to Spanish language channels, and we currently carry 78 of them. We have been and continue to be committed to paying fair, market rates for content so U-verse customers are protected from big increases in their bills,” Cicconi commented in a March 7 blog.