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Univision spurns Televisa
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February 21, 2001: 1:59 p.m. ET
Top U.S. Spanish-language network rejects Mexican rival's partial merger bid
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Univision Communications Inc. dismissed a partial merger offer made by programming partner Grupo Televisa S.A., a person familiar with the matter told CNNfn.com Wednesday.
Televisa, in its attempt to gain additional presence in the United States, made its intention known regarding a partial merger, the source said. Los Angeles-based Univision, the No.1 Spanish-language network in the United States, rejected the offer, the source said.
Grupo Televisa (TV: Research, Estimates), the world's biggest Spanish- language media company and Mexico's No.1 television broadcaster, has a programming deal with Univision which goes until 2017.
Univision (UVN: Research, Estimates), which has an 80 percent market share among Hispanic TV viewers, bought 13 stations from USA Networks Inc. (USAI: Research, Estimates) in December and needs new programming for the stations, the source said.
 "One of the obvious places Univision would go would be Televisa," the source said.
The two parties could possibly explore a deal in which Televisa would supply programming in exchange for Univision stock. However, Univision is not interested in a partial merger but is looking more for a programming deal, the source said.
Mexico City-based Televisa could not be reached for comment while Univision declined to comment.
Televisa hopes to strike a new arrangement with Univision before July or it will look for other potential U.S. partners, including Univision competitor Telemundo Communications Group, the Wall Street Journal's electronic edition reported Wednesday.
Shares for Grupo Televisa fell $5.75, or nearly 13 percent, to $40.09 in afternoon trading Wednesday. Univision dropped 95 cents to $35.25. 
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