To the Editor:
I am writing in response to your story (“Full Channel drops Univision,” PBN.com, Feb. 21, 2011).
You will find in our release that we did not choose to “drop” WUNI from our lineup. The station demanded that we take down their signal. It is Full Channel’s position that Entravision has not negotiated a fair contract in good faith (as required by the Federal Communications Commission) and is using this “blackout” as a technique to extort more money from customers of small, community-based cable operators like Full Channel. Cable customers in more-urban markets are not experiencing the same price increases from broadcasters like WUNI/Entravision.
In a time when the Consumer Price Index for recreational activities, which cable TV falls under, has actually decreased, a 33 percent increase in retransmission fees is exorbitant and particularly troubling when it effectively alienates the Hispanic community WUNI claims to serve.
Your headline implies that it was Full Channel’s choice to drop the Spanish-language network, when in fact Entravision demanded that the signal be suspended, when they would not budge from their offer.
Levi C. Maaia
Vice President, Full Channel