• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, February 25, 2010

Univision's networks are not experiencing the same scatter pricing increases as English-language counterparts have claimed this year, which could be an outgrowth of a stronger 2009 upfront, according to Univision Communications CFO Andrew Hobson.

Univision's three networks are not landing "the same demand benefit that you hear people (in) English talk about -- whether it's true or not, I don't know -- but we're still ... seeing positive pricing in scatter," Hobson said on an earnings call Thursday.

"Where our upfront was flattish and others were down 15%-plus, we're not seeing their pickup in scatter to kind of compensate for that, because we had a more normalized year," he added.

Some English-language networks have suggested scatter pricing is 20% or higher above upfront levels now.

Univision Communications operates the Univision and TeleFutura broadcast networks and Galavisión cable outlet.

Hobson said Univision's local station group, with more than 50 stations, is showing an uptick in sales since January. That is ramping up as the first quarter progresses.

Univision has high expectations for this year's second and third quarters, due to its coverage of the World Cup, which it is airing live on its three networks as well as online and via mobile platforms. Univision is still selling the World Cup, but Hobson acknowledged ad sales for major events in this economy is "a little more challenging." NBC Universal had similar hurdles with the Olympics.

Univision's TV segment posted growth in 2009's October-December period as revenues were up 7% to $420 million. The figure was helped by retransmission consent dollars for local stations; the ad market was somewhat flat.

For all of 2009, all TV revenues were up 1% to nearly $2 billion.

The radio segment, however, saw fourth-quarter revenues down 16% to $84 million. The company attributed some of the decrease to difficulties in garnering ad dollars in non-diary markets, where it does not subscribe to Arbitron PPM ratings.

"Arbitron's sample methodology and panel maintenance and recruitment is inherently biased against minorities, including Hispanics and African-Americans," said CEO Joe Uva on the call, in reference to a high-profile dispute. "It has to do with in-person recruitment practices ... we know many minorities -- particularly younger Hispanic families -- are cell-phone-only individuals and households ... recruiting did not reflect accurately the sampling relative to the percentage of population. This is being addressed in a number of ways."

Arbitron's CEO recently resigned and was replaced by former Meredith chief William Kerr. Uva said Univision is "encouraged," and Kerr is "being more responsive."

"We know that in order for this to fix itself, we have to take some pain here, and we're prepared to take that pain to get it fixed," Uva added.

Separately, as Univision emphasizes new digital advertising opportunities, interactive revenues were down 7% to $12 million in the 2009 fourth quarter. The company launched last year an ad network incorporating a run of Spanish-language sites and mobile offerings.

Overall, company-wide revenues in the fourth quarter were up 2% to $516 million, but were down 3% to a little less than $2 billion for all of 2009.

OIBDA was down in the 1.5% range for 4Q and up a bit over 3% to $823 million for 2009.