And without Televisa's shows, Univision's value is in doubt.
"Their strategic plan has to include what to do after 2017, and that means developing more original programming," Orci said. "But that's going to be a huge investment. There are a hundred failures on the way to find that one big hit. But they have to figure that out in the next couple of years, or they will be in trouble."
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meg.james@latimes.com
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A brief look at Univision's recent history
February 2006: A. Jerrold Perenchio and Univision's board of directors put the company on the block, hoping to fetch at least $13 billion.
Spring 2006: Mexico's largest media company, Grupo Televisa, and entertainment mogul Haim Saban and four private equity firms work to prepare opposing offers.
June 2006: Saban Capital Group, Providence Equity Partners, Madison Dearborn Partners, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Texas Pacific Group emerge as the highest bidders, besting Televisa by agreeing to pay $12.3 billion and assume $1.4 billion in debt.
March 2007: The consortium takes ownership of Univision, with each of the firms contributing about $900 million in equity and Saban contributing $300 million.
February 2008: Univision sells its music labels Fonovisa Records and Disa Records to Vivendi's Universal Music Group for about $112 million -- less than it had hoped.
January 2009: Federal trial begins in Los Angeles to determine whether Televisa had the right to terminate its programming contract with Univision. Case is settled; Televisa agrees to continue to provide shows to Univision.
February 2009: Advertising downturn forces Univision to lay off 6% of its workforce.
Spring 2009: Univision negotiates payments from cable and satellite TV companies. The deals should add $175 million in revenue to Univision this year and as much as $350 million annually by 2014.
June 2009: Univision refinances $500 million in debt due in 2011, extending the date of maturity to 2014.
Source: Times research
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Univision: a quick rundown
Name: Univision Communications Inc.
Headquarters: New York
Number of employees: 4,200
Debt: $9.7 billion
Annual revenue: $1.97 billion (estimated for 2009)
Cash flow: $786 million
Key properties: Two broadcast networks, Univision and TeleFutura; cable channel Galavision; 20 television stations; 67 radio stations; and an Internet site. The Spanish-language broadcaster also owns a joint venture called TuTV, which provides television channels to cable and satellite TV companies.
Source: Times research
