• by Wayne Friedman , July 7, 2006

The Univision and Televisa tussle continues as Univision tried to reassure investors that Televisa's decision to sell its stake in Univision will have little effect on Univision's operations.

The two companies have an agreement through 2017 by which Univision has the exclusive U.S. broadcast rights for all Spanish-language programming produced by Televisa.

Televisa failed in its bid for the Univision--the number one U.S. Hispanic broadcaster--and then claimed it wasn't given a fair chance to bid on the company. Then on Wednesday, it said it would sell its stake in Univision to a rival investor group rather than join the group in a $12.3 billion merger.

Univision said Televisa's filing yesterday has no bearing on the program agreement between Univision and Televisa.

Televisa said the sale of its 11.4 percent stake in Univision would allow it to pursue new ventures in the U.S. Hispanic media market--meaning a direct competitor to rival Univision.