He informed the Board of Directors at the top Spanish-language media company in the U.S that he has chosen not to renew his employment agreement in order to be able to seek other opportunities. Uva joined Univision in April 2007 after serving as president and CEO of media agency OMD Worldwide. He departs when his contract expires on 4/2. This is not long after Randy Falco, former Chairman and CEO of AOL and President and COO of NBC Universal Television Group, joined Univision Communications in January as Executive Vice President and COO. Read on–this is possibly key to the story.
During his four years, Unvision boosted its online presence with the Univision Interactive Media unit, entered the retransmission game, getting those fees for its stations and also oversaw the rollout of VOD, and HD signals for Univision, TeleFutura and Galavision.
Univision will commence a search process for a new CEO immediately. To ensure a smooth transition, Executive Chairman Haim Saban will assume additional responsibilities until a new CEO is appointed.
“On behalf of the Univision Board of Directors, we would like to commend Joe for his tremendous contributions over the past four years,” said Saban in a statement. “Univision is a better company today due to Joe’s efforts in building a strong leadership team and positioning Univision for long-term success. Univision’s business is strong, and the entire management team remains focused on delivering value to its customers and stakeholders. We wish Joe the best in his future endeavors.”
Added Uva: “My four years as President and CEO of Univision have been extremely exciting and rewarding. I believe our team can be proud of the accomplishments that we achieved during my tenure. Although I will miss working with the many talented professionals at Univision, the team is strong and I have decided the time is right for me to capitalize on other opportunities. I know that Univision will continue its great success as the premier Spanish-language media company in the U.S.”
Along with its three networks, Univision Local Media owns and/or operates 62 television stations and 70 radio stations. It also owns Univision.com, Univision Móvil and TuTv, the U.S. outlet for pay television channels of Mexico-based Grupo Televisa.
RBR-TVBR observation: But why? We heard Texas Pacific Group (TPG), a major shareholder of Univision, had Uva fired. TPG has reportedly been a strong critic of Uva since he joined and has finally convinced the board not to renew his contract, which was about to expire. Two months ago, TPG recommended veteran media Executive Randy Falco, for the COO position. We hear it’s likely he will become the new CEO. Meanwhile, another source tells us Uva may get a high post at NBCUniversal, now owned by Comcast.
