Court may delay media giants' case
Televisa asks to postpone Univision face-off
In a Tuesday court filing, Mexican conglom Televisa requested that the date be shifted from July 1 to September. Move was in response to Univision's request, filed Friday, for a week's delay to July 8 because of scheduling conflicts caused by the July Fourth holiday.
The date has already been moved several times. The most recent was on April 29, when a judge asked the companies to try to reach an out-of-court settlement to their three-year litigation.
At stake is a 25-year programming supply agreement that gives Univision rights to Televisa's ratings-winning telenovelas. Televisa wants to end the pact before its 2017 expiration, accusing Univision of material breach of contract.
However, Televisa will only accept a postponement of any kind if the court agrees to increase the time allotted to it to present its case from 25 to 65 hours. Televisa requested the additional 40 hours in a separate filing Tuesday.
"Univision advocated 25 hours so it can have that time," Televisa lawyer Marshall Grossman said. "We have 60 witnesses to testify on our side." Univision also made several complaints about Televisa's deposition and witness designations for the trial.
The court will respond to the requests at a status conference this week.
Trial is a thorn in the side of Univision's owners, a consortium of private investors led by media mogul Haim Saban that acquired the U.S. Spanish-language TV company in 2006.
Univision announced a 2008-09 dominated by Televisa content at the L.A. upfronts, indicating it has no intention of losing the content.
