Televisa, Univision head for online court battle

Televisa is set to face US Hispanic broadcaster Univision in court this week to settle a long-running dispute over the online rights to Televisa’s content in the US.

The two companies settled their dispute over their 25 year programming agreement in January but agreed to settle the online dispute at a later date.

Televisa CEO Emilio Azcarraga Jean is set to take the stand this week in a Los Angeles Federal Court and Univision chairman Jerrold Perenchio will also testify.

This follows a move by Televisa, the largest producer of Spanish-language content in the world, to launch an online video service across Latina America.

The channel is being launched in association with social networking site hi5 and will feature its range of novelas and entertainment series. If Televisa is successful proving that it owns the online rights to its programs in the US, it is expected to roll out the service there as well.