Verizon FiOS Customers Lose Univision In Midst Of Contract Dispute

Univision has gone dark in the homes of Verizon FiOS customers amid a contract dispute between the two sides that just couldn’t be worked out.

The Spanish-language broadcaster says that at 5 p.m. EST on Monday, Verizon yanked Univision’s signal from both its FiOS and mobile platforms, “entirely without warning.”

“Verizon chose to take this unprecedented action despite Univision’s offer of an extension of the current agreement,” the company says, noting that it’s surprised and “deeply concerned” that Verizon would black out the channel especially in light of “recent natural disasters and current events impacting the Hispanic community.”

The broadcaster urges Verizon to put Univision back on, and get back to the negotiating table.

The two sides had agreed to extend a current contract while they were discussing a new one, a Univision spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal.

But Verizon FiOS said Univision is trying to get an increase of “of more than double what they charge for access to their channels today.”

This price increase is unwarranted, a spokesperson for Verizon told Consumerist, saying that “we believe the appeal for Univision programming is waning given their reported declining viewership.”

“We’ve provided Univision a reasonable offer to continue providing our customers access to their channels,” a Verizon spokesperson told Consumerist. “Unfortunately they rejected that offer and as a result we no longer have rights to bring them those channels.”

Verizon claims Univision has used this alleged tactic “with multiple cable providers this year and last year.”

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