Several Hispanic advocacy groups are pushing for YouTube TV parent company Google to sign a new deal that allows the service to continue carrying two major Spanish-language networks before the end of the month.
During a virtual press event on Tuesday, the groups said YouTube TV has a responsibility to continue offering Telemundo from Comcast’s NBC Universal and channels from Televisa-Univision because both outlets provide critical, fact-based news and information for millions of Spanish-language households across the United States.
Google’s distribution deals with NBC Universal and Televisa-Univision are set to expire Tuesday evening. Telemundo and Univision are the highest-rated Spanish-language broadcast networks on television.
“For decades, Univision and Telemundo have been more than television networks — they are lifelines right now,” Luz Magaña, the Director of Operations for the U.S. Hispanic Leadership Institute, said during the press event. “They provide news during emergencies, during elections and cultural programming, programming that reflects who we are as a community.”
Advocates for Hispanic media — including the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts and the League of United Latin American Citizens — noted Google has benefitted from a consumer shift away from expensive cable and satellite TV packages toward cheaper, streaming-only options.
While Google doesn’t release subscriber counts on a regular basis, some estimates say YouTube TV’s customer base has exceeded 10 million, making it the largest streaming cable TV alternative on the market and one of the biggest providers of pay TV overall.
Like other cable and satellite companies, Google must pay broadcasters and programmers for the privilege of distributing their local and national TV channels. NBC Universal and Televisa-Univision receive fees from the carriage of their networks on YouTube TV that a paid on a per-subscriber basis.
Earlier this month, a Google spokesperson said both broadcasters were demanding higher fees for the continued carriage of their channels — the agreement with NBC Universal also includes English-language networks like NBC, USA Network and SyFy.
While NBC Universal and YouTube TV continue to negotiate toward an agreement, officials at Televisa-Univision complain Google has not been accommodating in discussions about a new deal for their channels, which are entirely in Spanish.
On Tuesday, Hispanic media advocates characterized the situation as more than just business, saying Google has a civic duty to ensure its programming reflects the diverse make-up of the country.
Amy Hinojosa, the Chair of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, said the situation was similar to one involving Great American Family, a faith-based network that landed on YouTube TV shortly after Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr demanded answers from Google about its lack of carriage on the platform.
“We’re talking about fairness across the board…this is happening over and over again,” Hinojosa said. “We should really start to look into this and make sure that, if they’re not dealing in good faith, then the regulatory agencies that are tasked with this are taking their jobs seriously and working on it.”
While cable and satellite carriage deals are regulated by the FCC, YouTube TV isn’t, owed to the fact that it is a streaming service that falls outside the agency’s scope of authority. Still, Carr has proven instrumental in effectuating deals based on his own political agenda, which has skewed toward deals that favor conservative and faith-based outlets.
Carr hasn’t chimed in on the issues impacting Spanish-language broadcasters and their deals with YouTube TV, but others have. On Tuesday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton urged Google to continue offering Univision on YouTube TV.
In a public statement, Paxton said Google appeared to be punishing Univision specifically because the network “offered to host a Town Hall for then-candidate Donald Trump” last year.
“That was a laudable decision, and to the extent that YouTube TV is now using market power to punish it, such retaliation will not be tolerated,” Paxton said. He did not address the situation between Google and NBC Universal.
If Google is not willing to act before the end of the day, advocates say they’re working to educate consumers on other services, including DirecTV, which recently released a Spanish-language streaming plan called MiEspañol that offers Telemundo, Univision and dozens of other networks for $35 per month. The plan also includes Vix Premium, and is priced about $50 less than YouTube TV.
“In a free market, if all those guys are smart, they’re going to try to snap up those consumers immediately,” Hinojosa said.
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Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story said Comcast’s distribution agreement with YouTube TV for its NBC Universal channels was set to expire around 7 p.m. Eastern Time, based on information provided in the press briefing. A Comcast spokesperson clarified that their distribution agreement with YouTube TV does not expire at that time. The spokesperson also requested certain references to Comcast be changed to “NBC Universal,” the subsidiary that is negotiating with YouTube TV on the matter.
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