Televisa, Univision settle lawsuit

Grupo Televisa SAB and Univision Communications Inc. said Thursday they have settled a lawsuit over a long-running advertising revenue sharing deal.

Televisa, the dominant Mexican producer of telenovelas, and Univision, the leading Hispanic broadcaster in the United States, said they have also amended their program license agreement, which runs through 2017.

The companies said the deal will result in increased payments to Televisa and better rights for Univision.

"We are pleased that today's settlement concludes this time-consuming litigation," the companies said in a joint statement. "It assures the public that Univision will continue to have access to consistently top quality Hispanic programming. It enables Televisa to continue utilizing Univision's extensive television networks as an important distribution channel for its content into the U.S. marketplace."

The courtroom battle has been going since 2005, and threatened to have Televisa's popular weeknight dramas, such as "Las Tontas No Van Al Cielo," pulled from Univision's networks.

The companies also agreed that Televisa will license rights to Univision to broadcast home games for the three Televisa-owned soccer teams, America, Necaxa and San Luis, this year.

They added, however, that they would still go to trial in a federal court in Los Angeles in March over the U.S. Internet rights to Televisa programming.

Televisa shares rose 53 cents, or 3.7 percent, to $14.90 in afternoon trading after the announcement. Univision was taken private in 2006 by a group of private equity firms and billionaire Haim Saban, for $12.3 billion.