This might make a great telenovela…

The rich guy refuses to pay what they’re owed for the hard work and creativity of the heroine, who must cross the border to seek justice… and discovers a willing suitor who appreciates her talent and hard work, and promises to treat her right… sounds like a winner.

Edvard Pettersson for Bloomberg:

Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) — Univision Communications Inc., the largest Spanish-language television network in the U.S., may lose its top-rated prime-time shows in a royalties dispute with Mexico’s Grupo Televisa SA that’s about to go to trial.

Televisa, Mexico’s biggest media company, this week will ask a Los Angeles jury to find Univision broke a licensing agreement so egregiously that Televisa can end the arrangement, set to run through 2017. Televisa will also ask for more than $100 million in unpaid royalties, its lawyer Marshall Grossman said.

The litigation is a “significant potential risk” for Univision, John Puchalla, a Moody’s Investors Service analyst, said in a Dec. 11 report. Televisa’s programs provide about 36 percent of New York-based Univision’s advertising revenue and would be hard to replace, Puchalla said.

“Televisa has a highly developed talent-scouting and training network in Mexico,” he said. “This creates a fairly strong lock on the talent pool underlying the programming.”

Univision has exclusive U.S. rights to leading prime-time soap operas including “Cuidado con el Angel” and “Fuego en la Sangre.” If the company loses, it may have to bid for the programs, perhaps against NBC Universal Inc.’s Telemundo network, and might pay the prevailing rate if it keeps them, Puchalla said in a phone interview, declining to speculate on rates.