• The Hollywood Reporter, Thursday, March 20, 2008 11:30 AM

No. 1 Spanish-language TV broadcaster Univision could lose much of its current prime time programming as Mexico's Televisa is trying to end a 16-year-old exclusive license agreement in a spat over royalty payments. A 3-year-old lawsuit between the parties is set for a trial next month in federal court in Los Angeles and if Televisa prevails, Univision could be out 15 of its 20 hours of prime time programming per week, including an entire 7-10 p.m. telenovela block.

The odds of a settlement, or after-the-verdict reconciliation, are looking pretty long. "I would be willing to bet my last dollar that the one option that will not be exercised is the negotiation of a new program license agreement with Univision," says Marshall Grossman, an attorney for the Santa Monica law firm Bingham McCutchen, which represents Televisa. "This is a relationship that has been irreparably damaged. I don't see a voluntary long-term relationship between these two companies, regardless of how much money Univision provides to Televisa."

Julio Rumbaut, a Miami-based media consultant, says one possible scenario is for Televisa to find a backer to launch its own network. By some estimates, Televisa content brings in 40% of Univision's advertising revenue and Televisa first sued in 2005 accusing it of underpaying royalties and hiding revenue.

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