• The Wall Street Journal, Thursday, January 8, 2009 9:30 AM

A Spanish-language TV drama opened on Tuesday, a corporate fight that could reshape the Hispanic media landscape in the U.S. In a 3-year-old dispute, Grupo Televisa SA, the Mexican conglomerate, is seeking to sever a 25-year programming agreement with Univision Communications.

Televisa supplies Univision with saucy telenovelas and other popular programming. Losing them could threaten Univision's status as the top Spanish-language broadcaster in the U.S.

In a civil trial in Los Angles, Televisa's Televisa is alleging breach of contract related to royalty payments and wants to take its programming elsewhere. Univision counters that it has paid Televisa more than $1 billion in royalties since 1992 and that Televisa could earn an additional $2 billion before the contract expires in 2017. The trial is expected to last several weeks.

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