Charter Communications-Univision Settle Licensing Dispute

Charter Communications Inc (NASDAQ:CHTR) recently settled pending a year-long content licensing dispute with Univision Communications Inc. Per sources, Univision agreed to dismiss the case against Charter. The companies have informed the court about the settlement. However, the terms of the deal have been kept under wraps.

Charter is the second-largest cable MSO in the United States. Univision is the largest TV broadcaster of Spanish language.

In July 2016, Univision sued Charter over carriage licensing fees, post the twin buyout of Time Warner Cable (TWC) and Bright House LLC to become the second largest cable mult-service operator (MSO) in the United States. The parties were at conflict about whether Time Warner’s long-term deal with Univision was applicable to the merged entity.

Notably, Time Warner had a long-term agreement with Univision till June 2022 at lower carriage fees than the prevailing market rates. Univision contended that since Time Warner no longer exists, Charter must sign a new deal at the prevailing rates. To this extent, Charter refused to enter into any carriage renewal agreement. This resulted in a blackout of the Spanish-language programmer on Charter.

Separately, Univision and Frontier Communications Corp (NASDAQ:FTR) have reportedly renewed a distribution agreement for Univision’s TV channels and local stations. The deal includes Univision’s entire portfolio — Univision Network, UniMás, Galavisión, Univision Deportes Network, El Rey Network, FOROtv, TLNovelas, Telehit, Bandamax, De Pelicula and De Pelicula Clasico. Per the deal, Univision’s networks and stations will be broadcasted in Frontier’s Vantage and Fios footprints in California, Texas and Florida.

Charter’s Latest Deals

Recently, Charter and Altice USA Inc (NYSE:ATUS) have reportedly reached an agreement to broadcast their respective regional cable news networks. Per the deal, Charter will telecast i24NEWS, which was launched by Altice USA in January. The channel is available on Altice USA’s Optimum and Suddenlink systems. Meanwhile, Charter’s Spectrum News NY1 will be available to Optimum users in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

On Nov 15, Charter and Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAB) announced a multi-year renewal and expansion of their distribution relationship. The companies formed an alliance for the co-production of original content and collaboration around advanced advertising.

Zacks Rank & Price Performance

Currently, Charter carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

On a year-to-date basis, the stock has 15.2% compared with the industry’s gain of 7.3%.

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