Univision channels blacked out on Charter over fee dispute

Feb. 2 (UPI) -- About 2.5 million customers of the Charter-Spectrum cable service lost Univision channels due to a dispute between the companies over carriage fees.

Univision told Stamford, Conn.,-based Charter Communications to pull out signals of all Univision channels early Wednesday, which blacked out access to the Univision, Unimás, Galavisión, Univision Deportes and El Rey networks.

"Attention: Spectrum customers. You have lost all the channels of Univision that you love," Univision said in a statement.

The move comes six months after Univision filed a lawsuit against Charter accusing the company of breach of contract over carriage fees. Univision argues Charter should pay more in carriage fees and that Charter, which merged with Time Warner Cable in May 2016, refused to renegotiate new carriage deals with Univision.

Univision is under pressure to increase earnings to launch an initial public offering in the stock market. Cable carriage fees have the potential to generate millions in additional revenue.

"We have a contract with Univision and we expect them to honor it," a Charter spokesman said in a statement before the signals were pulled.