Activists Fear Foreign Share in Univision

Although he represents only a small part of the deal, the presence of Mexican media magnate Emilio Azcarraga in the announced purchase of the Univision TV network has some local Latino activists worried.

Hallmark Cards, which has owned Univision since 1987, said this month that it had agreed to sell its nine TV stations and the Spanish-language network to a group led by Los Angeles investor A. Jerrold Perenchio for $550 million.

To comply with U.S. foreign ownership rules, the deal will be structured so that Perenchio controls a 75% interest in the station group while being a 50% partner in the network.

Televisa and Venevision, a Caracas-based broadcasting company, will each hold 25% stakes in the network and 12.5% stakes in the station group.

“We don’t think (the sale) is a great idea, we are concerned about the lack of minority ownership in the United States and the lack of diversity of opinion,” said Esther Renteria, na tional chairwoman of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, based in Los Angeles. “Our Washington counsel is looking into how we go about opposing the transfer of ownership.”

Renteria’s concern centers on Azcarraga, who was forced to sell Univision’s predecessor company in 1988, when the Federal Communications Commission found him in violation of rules governing foreign control of broadcasting licenses.

At the time, Latino activists had petitioned the FCC to require that the Univision stations be sold to a U.S. Latino broadcaster. Instead, it was sold for $301 million to Hallmark Cards, which has had a rocky time with the venture.

Latino community activists are worried that if the sale goes through, Azcarraga will largely supply Univision and its local affiliate, KMEX Channel 34, with his Latin American-made programming and drop U.S.-produced shows. Or worse, they fear that he will control this country’s Spanish-language television in the same way that he controls Mexican television.

“The way he runs television in Mexico does not bode well,” said Raul Ruiz, who teaches Chicano studies at Cal State Northridge. “He doesn’t allow for diversity of opinion. There’s just too much control.”

“I think in terms of the community itself. We have no expectations that there’s going to be any kind of change as far as programming that is beneficial to the Latino community,” said Armando Duron, attorney for the Hispanic media coalition.

Spanish-language media expert Felix Gutierrez said: “Clearly, the way they operated (before the sale to Hallmark) was to produce in Mexico and then recycle the product up here.”

“(Univision) had done some good things with domestic production and beefing up the news,” said Gutierrez, vice president of the Freedom Forum media foundation. “That clearly has to be threatened now by the Azcarraga reconnection. Anytime you can produce for pesos and sell for dollars you have a real money-making machine.”

But KMEX general manager Mike Martinez said he is convinced that this change in ownership will not be a return to the past.

“After speaking with Perenchio I realized he’s very sensitive to those issues, and I think we have made him more sensitive. . . . He’s a broadcaster. He understands the business. It’s his vision and not some representation of Televisa. . . . I think that what (the prospective) partners give us is efficiency and eliminate the competitive barriers. We used to have to compete with them. With the distribution opportunities (through syndication with Televisa) it just makes our programming that much more valuable.”

If the sale goes through, it will merge Univision with a competitor, the Galavision network, which is owned by Azcarraga and carried locally by KWHY, Channel 22.