Comcast “has agreed to distribute” Univision’s Spanish-language cable sports network “to almost 12 million Comcast TV homes,” according to Bob Fernandez of the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER. Univision Deportes Network (UDN) “will be available on Comcast's digital preferred tier or through its Xfinity Latino service.” The agreement “seems likely to neutralize a potential opponent” of Comcast's proposed $45.2B acquisition of Time Warner Cable. UDN “is expected to be available to Xfinity customers in October” (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 9/10). In L.A., Meg James noted Univision President & CEO Randy Falco earlier this year made comments that UDN “was carried by most distributors -- except Comcast.” The new deal “came after more than a year of negotiations, and four months after Falco publicly aired his concerns” about the proposed Comcast-TWC merger. Comcast Exec VP/Consumer Services Marcien Jenckes in a statement “downplayed the timing” of the UDN deal. Jenckes said that Comcast “only recently came to terms on a deal deemed to be in the best interest of its subscribers” (LATIMES.com, 9/9).
