Univision black hole is deepening

Univision’s tough stretch continues. The largest Spanish-language network, already buffeted by declining ratings, on Monday suffered through its third day of being blacked out on Dish Network and Sling TV.

The carriage dispute is keeping Univision away from the pay TV outlets’ 13 million subscribers. Talks between the parties continue. “The ball remains in Univision’s court as we await a response to our latest proposal,” Dish said Monday. The company did not provide details on the negotiations but said via Twitter that “Univision is demanding a rate increase of roughly 75% more than we pay today. We don’t think that is fair to our customers, so unfortunately, we were unable to come to a deal by the deadline.”

Univision said it is working on a “fair resolution.” Trade groups took to Twitter to defend the network.

The network is facing a downward trend among younger viewers.

According to Nielsen, in the 18-to-49 age group, rival Telemundo logged 600,000 viewers, compared with 570,000 for Univision, for the week ended June 24.

The win for Telemundo has been attributed largely to its World Cup broadcasts. It outbid Univision for the rights to the tournament.

Still, for the current season, Univision has averaged 1.6 million total viewers, compared with 1.2 million for Telemundo.