From an early age, Univision’s Friday Abernethy had aspirations about working in media, but her path into the field wasn’t a direct one. “When I was offered a position within the banking industry at JPMorgan Chase at the start of my career, I thought that was a really unbelievable opportunity to learn an industry and be trained from such an esteemed organization,” she recalled. “The people I met, the departments I interacted with, and everything in between was simply a great way to launch my work life.”

Segueing into GE Capital, Abernethy spent the first six years of her career in financial services. “I really appreciated the intellectual aspects of the jobs, but I was not really passionate in what I was doing,” she said. “Since this was in the infancy of the internet, I just thought it was a golden opportunity. I wanted to be part of it.”

Flash to Viacom Media Networks in 1998, specifically MTV Networks, and Abernethy was the company’s first internet hire. Following her most recent position at Pop TV, which she helped transition from the TV listings channel TVGN to a full-scale entertainment network, Abernethy is now senior VP, content distribution and business development at Univision Communications.

She manages the team responsible for negotiating sales and licensing efforts for both television and digital platforms under a variety of business models. This includes broadcast television, sports and Spanish-language programming, and with all major linear and online distributors of content (along with subscription video-on-demand, over the top and social distributors).

“The increasing opportunities in digital right now are the new normal,” Abernethy noted. “Nothing is really complete at present without some digital component.”

“We reach the Hispanic audience and it is really important that we are educating all of the partners and platforms out there about the Hispanic consumer and the growth that is available on all the platforms of Univision Communications,” she said, citing the nearly 60 million Hispanics in the United States. These platforms include Univision, UniMás, Galavisión, El Rey Network and Spanish-language sports network TUDN (formerly Univision Deportes Network).

Selling Content and Culture

“What is really great about Univision is how it provides content in culture and in language, which I think is really important as the third-generation Hispanics continue to embrace their heritage,” Abernethy said. “If you are an outsider looking in the media industry, you have no idea how important the licensing revenue is for any media company.

"These are leverage negotiations, so you can ultimately have very challenging conversations with clients, but you work with them in such intense and intimate moments you can also become very good friends with them after the deal is done.”

“We also work in a business right now so much more digitally focused,” she noted. “One of the first deals I did in partnership with other people within Univision was to figure out how we could get on the Sling platform, which was sort of our first foray into this new digital world. Since then, and as we continue to evolve as an organization, I still have my footing heavily within the MVPD world, but my team also oversees AVOD deals, third-party app deals and any new MVPD deals that are coming into fruition.”

Abernethy also cited wireless as a new arena that is now becoming more prevalent, as well as a space Univision wants to partner in.

“The field is now so much broader in how we can license our product, we must ensure that our audience has access to it,” she said. “It’s about making sure that our content is available across all platforms.”

“As tough as Friday can be, she is also very fair, very direct and always truthful,” said Henry Ahn, Univision’s president of content distribution and partnerships, who joined the company less than two years ago from Scripps Networks Interactive. “Your reputation does not happen overnight. It is built over many years in the course of a career. Even before I wasn’t working with her, I knew of Friday’s reputation as someone you could simply trust.

“Friday has a great attitude; not just at work but in life in general,” he added. “People like her, she likes to be around people, and in our business that goes a very long way.”

Cox Communications senior VP of content distribution Andy Albert called Abernethy a “great people leader.”

“Friday is an extremely well-respected, tough-but-fair negotiator with deep experience in content distribution,” Albert said. “Increasingly valued as the industry shifts, she is highly adaptable to changes, handles adversity well and is able to roll with the punches. She’s also well-liked and a great people leader, someone who many of her extensive contacts in the industry would jump to work with.”

What’s in a Name?

As for her unique first name, it’s nothing more than a nickname, Abernethy said. “My real first name is Kristen, but I have always been called Friday,” she said. “My parents are Midwest, wonderful and earnest people, and not necessarily cool and hip enough to name a child Friday. But I was born on a Friday and it just stuck as a nickname from an early age.

“And, let’s face it — it’s certainly better than being called Sunday or Monday!”

Career Highlights: Launching the Logo network at Viacom at a time when the LGBTQ community was not embraced; expanding into the digital space.

At Univision, launching sports network TUDN.

Quotable: “We are here working for big organizations at a time of great change. But when there is a mission behind what you are personally doing, it makes the work all that much more meaningful. It gives you a purpose, which really drives me.”

Author and New Age wellness celebrity Deepak Chopra said he has formed a new company, Chopra Global, with investor backing and headed by Tonia O'Connor, the former Univision Communications executive, as CEO and board member.

The company "encompasses a variety of products and services; from digital meditation apps to online masterclasses to live events and personalized retreats at the Chopra Center," Chopra said in a release. O'Connor was president and chief revenue officer at Univision, the Spanish-language media conglomerate, before leaving that role last summer amid an executive overhaul there. Earlier in her career O'Connor was executive VP of Gemstar TV Guide.

Chopra Global investors include Alice Walton, Ray Chambers and Matthew Harris of Global Infrastructure Partners (through his wellness investment fund Avatar Companies), the company said. "The launch of Chopra Global will create a new paradigm in healthcare for the 21stCentury," said Alice Walton. "With her experience in leading a company's commercial evolution, my fellow investors and I are thrilled to have a CEO like Tonia. She has a strong track record leveraging shifting market and consumer dynamics and knows how to capitalize on the exponential growth we are seeing in health and wellness."

"With Chopra Global's new leadership and funding, the company's goal is to scale all of its content and products, while expanding its existing impact through both direct to consumer and enterprise solutions," the release said.

"The name 'Deepak Chopra' is synonymous with the well-being movement and Chopra Global is already leading the industry with omni-channel consumer experiences," O'Connor said in the release.

Dish Network and Univision Communications said they have reached a long-term carriage deal, ending what had been a nine-month blackout of the Spanish-language network for the satellite company’s 13 million customers.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Univision said its channels will be restored to the satellite TV service’s customers immediately. The drop had begun to look permanent on Dish's part, with Dish chairman Charles Ergen saying during a November earnings call that Dish might actually face a backlash from subscribers if it restored the Univision networks at a time when Dish customers were saying "they’re not seeing the value in linear TV today.”

“We want to thank our Dish customers for their patience as we worked to reach an agreement that is fair to all parties, especially our customers,” said Dish CEO Erik Carlson, in a press release. “For more than 20 years, Dish has led our industry in serving the U.S. Hispanic community, and today’s announcement is reflective of our commitment to delivering quality content at the right value.”

Starting today, the following channels are once again available to Dish and DishLATINO customers, depending upon their programming package: Univision, UniMás, Univision Deportes Network, Galavisión, Tlnovelas and FOROtv. A full list of packages is available at both dishlatino.com and dish.com.

“We are pleased to have reached an agreement with Dish that recognizes the value of our top-rated networks and stations,” said Univision CEO Vince Sadusky in a press release. “We look forward to once again providing Dishand DishLATINO customers with the news, sports, and entertainment content they love. Thank you to our loyal audience for your unwavering support.”

Separately, the companies agreed to settle all pending litigation between the two companies.

Dish Network shares fell by more than 7% Wednesday, after the satellite giant reported accelerated customer losses in the fourth quarter.

The stock fell as low as $28.24 each (down 9.7%) in early trading Feb. 13 after the company said it had lost 334,000 total pay TV subscribers in Q4, compared to a gain of 39,000 in the prior year. The stock closed at $28.86 per share on Feb. 13, down 7.7% or $2.40 each. 

The declines come as Dish stock was beginning to show some signs of life this year, up about 25% since December. The shares plunged 48% in 2018.

Breaking out the numbers, Dish lost about 381,000 satellite TV subscribers in the quarter -- compared to a loss of 121,000 in the same period in 2017. Sling TV additions at about 50,000 in Q4 were less than one-third the 160,000-subscriber gain in the prior year.

Dish blamed the losses partially on channel blackouts. In June, Spanish-language programmer Univision went dark to Dish customers (its sports network Univision Deportes was pulled in November). Dish’s carriage deal with premium programmer HBO expired in November and was not renewed. 

“With ongoing programming blackouts from both HBO and Univision, the Q4 numbers announced today were predictably awful, even with the benefit of the perversely avoided programming costs,” wrote MoffettNathanson principal and senior analyst Craig Moffett in a note to clients. “The satellite TV side of Dish’s business is beset by alligators.”

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Univision Communications said it renewed a distribution agreement with Frontier Communications covering Univision's full portfolio of local stations in the telco's Fios and Vantage markets and UCI cable networks.

The pact includes Univision Network, UniMás and Galavisión; Univision Deportes Network; El Rey Network and cable networks FOROtv, TLNovelas, Telehit, Bandamax, De Pelicula and De Pelicula Clasico. 

UCI EVP of content distribution Eric Ratchman said in a release: “We greatly appreciate the opportunity to extend our partnership with Frontier Communications. The company has long understood the value of the Hispanic viewer and the importance of providing content that attracts and retains customers in the key markets they serve in states ranging from California and Texas to Florida.”

Steve Ward, Frontier senior vice president, video technology and content, added: “We are pleased to have reached an agreement with Univision Communications to continue to include their portfolio of programming in the wide variety of Spanish-language entertainment options we offer our customers.” 

fuboTV, a virtual MVPD focused on cord-cutters and millennial audiences, said it has inked distribution deals with Univision Communications, Pivot and Revolt Media & TV.

Those agreements, it said, bring 15 new networks to its lineup, including Pivot, Revolt, Univision, UniMás, Univision Deportes, Galavisión and El Rey Network, among others. fuboTV noted that its deal with UCI (also a fuboTV investor) includes local broadcast stations from Univision and UniMás across 60 markets.

Those deals mark a significant programming expansion for fuboTV, an OTT service that initially focused on soccer via carriage deals with networks such as  beIN SPORTS, GoITV and Benfica TV. fuboTV secured a $4 million “A” round of funding last year (expanding total funding to $5.6 million), and recently joined up with Binge On, T-Mobile’s new, optional mobile streaming service that delivers video at 480p resolution and zero-rates streams delivered from content partners.

Update: fuboTV said it has 40,000 subscribers, putting it behind only Sling TV among providers in the virtual MVPD category. fuboTV launched in January 2015. 

“Signing these agreements with Univision, Pivot and REVOLT is a huge milestone for our company, as we work to grow fuboTV’s premium sports offering and complement it with entertainment content that appeals to young sports fans and other Millennials,” said David Gandler, co-founder and CEO of fuboTV, in a statement. “In the first year since our launch, we have quickly become the number-two virtual MVPD in the U.S., and we are confident that, through more partnerships and complex carriage agreements, we will continue to be positioned strongly as we build on our mission to bring consumers the video distribution platform they crave.”

fuboTV, which currently sells for $9.99 per month,  is offered on Web browsers, Amazon Fire TV devices, Android and iOS mobile devices, Apple TV, Google Chromecast, and Roku.