Canal Once (channel 11) (stylised as canal once, formerly once and once tv) is a Mexican educational broadcast television network owned by
National Polytechnic Institute
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, ce ...
. The network's
flagship station
In broadcasting, a flagship (also known as a flagship station or key station) is the broadcast station which originates a television network, or a particular radio or television program that plays a key role in the branding of and consumer loyal ...
is
XEIPN-TDT channel 11 in
Mexico City
Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
. It broadcasts across Mexico through nearly 40 TV transmitters and is required carriage on all Mexican cable and satellite providers. The network also operates an international feed which is available in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
,
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
and the rest of countries of
Latin America
Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
and
the Caribbean
The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America to the west, a ...
via satellite from
DirecTV
DirecTV, LLC is an American Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital Satellite television, s ...
and
CANTV
CANTV () is the state-run telephone and internet service provider in Venezuela. It was one of the first telephone service enterprises in the country, founded in 1930. The largest telecommunications provider in Venezuela, it was privatized in 19 ...
, via online from VEMOX,
VIVOplay and also on various cable outlets, on "Latino" or "Spanish" tiers. Most of its programs are also
webcast through the
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...
, though its programming is not the same as the actual broadcasters or satellite signal.
History
The network began broadcasting on March 2, 1959, when its flagship station became the first non-profit educational and cultural television station in Mexico, owned and operated by a Mexican institution of higher education.
The television channel was conceived by
Alejo Peralta y Díaz, the director of the Instituto Politécnico Nacional between 1956 and 1959, and supported by his successor
Eugenio Méndez Docurro, as well as
Secretary of Communications and Transportation Walter Cross Buchanan and
Jaime Torres Bodet,
Secretary of Public Education
In Mexico, the Secretariat of Public Education (Spanish language, in Spanish ''Secretaría de Educación Pública'', ''SEP'') is a federal government authority with Cabinet (government), cabinet representation and the responsibility for overseein ...
.
Its first broadcast was a
mathematics
Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
class transmitted from a small
television studio
A television studio, also called a television production studio, is an installation room in which video productions take place, either for the production of live television and its recording onto video tape or other media such as SSDs, or for ...
located at the
Casco de Santo Tomás, in the northern part of Mexico City.
In 1969, Canal Once was the first Mexico City TV station to relocate its transmitter to
Cerro del Chiquihuite, in order to improve its signal. It would later be joined on the mountain by most of Mexico City's other television stations as well as several radio broadcasters. Around this time, Canal Once converted to color. By the 1980s, it already had four of its own studios.
In the 1990s and 2000s, Once TV (as the network had been renamed in 1997) embarked on a two-pronged expansion strategy. The IPN built transmitters in cities such as
Cuernavaca
Cuernavaca (; , "near the woods" , Otomi language, Otomi: ) is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state, state of Morelos in Mexico. Along with Chalcatzingo, it is likely one of the origins of the Mesoamerica, Mesoamerican civilizatio ...
and
Tijuana
Tijuana is the most populous city of the Mexican state of Baja California, located on the northwestern Pacific Coast of Mexico. Tijuana is the municipal seat of the Tijuana Municipality, the hub of the Tijuana metropolitan area and the most popu ...
in the late 1990s, and in the 2000s and early 2010s, it expanded to build in the states of Sinaloa, Durango and Chihuahua. It also allied with state networks, such as those of
Guerrero
Guerrero, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guerrero, is one of the 32 states that compose the administrative divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Guerrero, 85 municipalities. The stat ...
,
Nayarit
Nayarit, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Nayarit, is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in Municipalities of Nayarit, 20 municipalit ...
and
Quintana Roo
Quintana Roo, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Quintana Roo, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, constitute the 32 administrative divisions of Mexico, federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into municipalities of ...
, providing them with Once TV programs. The launch of the Organismo Promotor de Medios Audiovisuales, now the
Sistema Público de Radiodifusión del Estado Mexicano (SPR), in 2010 marked the beginning of a second expansion, which finally brought Once TV to such large cities as
Guadalajara
Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...
,
Monterrey
Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...
and
Puebla
Puebla, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Puebla, is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its capital is Puebla City. Part of east-centr ...
.

The SPR operates 26 transmitters to the IPN's 13, and all of them (with the exception of Mexico City) carry Canal Once as one of their subchannels.
In 2013, Once TV México returned to its original name of Canal Once as part of a branding refresh.
In 2015, the IPN launched
Once Niños, a subchannel of Canal Once featuring children's programming, which is available on all Canal Once transmitters operated by the IPN as well as on all Mexican cable systems. On December 31, 2015, Canal Once completed its
digital television transition
The digital television transition, also called the digital switchover (DSO), the analogue switch/sign-off (ASO), the digital migration, or the analogue shutdown, is the process in which older analogue television broadcasting technology is con ...
.
In July 2016, Olympusat added the channel to its OTT platform, VEMOX.

On January 23, 2019, President
Andrés Manuel López Obrador nominated senator
José Antonio Álvarez Lima to serve as the new director of Canal Once. marking his return to public media after 28 years away. Álvarez was installed in that position in March.
He announced his resignation in late October 2020, in order to fill the Senate vacancy in his seat that resulted from the death of alternate senator
Joel Molina Ramírez. If Álvarez Lima had opted to remain at Canal Once, the vacancy would have triggered a special election for the seat. He was replaced by 25-year-old Carlos Brito Lavalle, the youngest director in the station's history, who had previously helped coordinate the Aprende en Casa program and held other posts.
In 2021, Canal Once was authorized a further 24 new transmitters, many to be co-sited with existing or new SPR installations.
Logos
File:XEIPN-TV Logo 1950 1980.png, 1959-1986
File:Antiguo logo de Canal Once (Canal Once Televisión).png, 1986-1990
File:XEIPN logo 80s.PNG, 1991-1996
File:Antiguo logo de Canal Once (Once TV).png, 1996-2007
File:Antiguo logo de Canal Once (once TV).png, 2007-2011
File:Antiguo logo de Canal Once (ONCE TV MEXICO).png, 2011-2013
File:Logo CanalOnce.png, 2013-2019
File:Logo Actual Canal Once.png, 2019–2025
Once Niños Logos
Once.2 2014.svg, 2014-2016
Once Ninos 2016-2020.svg, 2016-2020
Once niñas y niños 2020.svg, 2020–present
Programs
Canal Once produces a wide variety of cultural and educational programming. It also produces and airs ''Once Noticias'' national newscasts.
Canal Once has also been one of the national broadcasters that has carried the Olympic Games under contract from
América Móvil
América Móvil, S.A.B. de C.V. is a Mexican telecommunications corporation headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico. It is the 7th largest mobile network operator in the world in terms of equity subscribers, as well as one of the largest corpor ...
, including the
2014 Summer Youth Olympics
The 2014 Summer Youth Olympics (), officially known as the II Summer Youth Olympic Games , and commonly known as Nanjing 2014 ( zh, c=南京2014, p=Nánjīng Èr Líng yī sì), were the second Youth Olympic Games, Summer Youth Olympic Games, an ...
and
2016 Summer Olympics
The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...
.
During
Holy Week
Holy Week () commemorates the seven days leading up to Easter. It begins with the commemoration of Triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, marks the betrayal of Jesus on Spy Wednesday (Holy Wednes ...
, as a result of the
coronavirus pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, Canal Once,
Canal Catorce, and
Capital 21 co-produced for the first time television coverage of the
Passion Play of Iztapalapa.
Awards
Canal Once has won many national and international prizes, including the following:
*
Promax World Gold Awards 2004
New York, U.S.:
:Golden Prize T 08 for Program Promotion: "Violencia Doméstica"
:Golden Prize T 10 for Special Event Program Promotion: "Violencia Doméstica"
:Silver Prize T 08 for Program Promotion: "Diálogos en confianza" (
Talk show
A talk show is a television programming, radio programming or podcast genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show', pp.3-4Erler, Robert (201 ...
)
:Silver Prize T 27 for Non-Promotional Animation: " Master of lounge music "
*Promax BDA World Gold Awards 2004, New York, U.S.:
:Gold 56 for Consumer Topical Advertising: "Pasión por la Naturaleza "
:Silver 4 for Topical Print: "Tour de cine francés"
:Silver 65 for Poster: "Tour de cine francés"
:Silver 69 for Illustration for Print: "Pasión por la Naturaleza "
:Bronze 13 for Open: "Violencia Familiar"
:Bronze 16 for Art Direction & Design, Topical Promo: " Diálogos en Confianza "
*I Festival Internacional de Documentales de Madrid 2004,
Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
,
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
:
:Jury's Special Mention for "Series del Once"
IPN-owned transmitters
Canal Once has an extensive transmitter network owned by the IPN that is supplemented by the
SPR transmitter network. All Canal Once transmitters, whether owned by the IPN or the SPR, use virtual channel 11.
Once Niñas y Niños is only available on Canal Once transmitters owned by the IPN and as the subchannel of one separately owned station,
XHZHZ-TDT in
Zacatecas, Zacatecas. A third subchannel, known as Mente Abierta, was authorized for the IPN transmitter network in August 2020 but never launched.
One transmitter, in
Cuernavaca
Cuernavaca (; , "near the woods" , Otomi language, Otomi: ) is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state, state of Morelos in Mexico. Along with Chalcatzingo, it is likely one of the origins of the Mesoamerica, Mesoamerican civilizatio ...
, carries
Canal Catorce as a subchannel under agreement with the SPR.
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In 2017, the IPN was authorized for four additional transmitters; it surrendered the concession for one of the four, at
Tepic, Nayarit, to the IFT in 2019.
Canal Once was formerly relayed by the state networks of Guerrero (
Radio y Televisión de Guerrero), Nayarit (
Tele 10) and Quintana Roo (
Sistema Quintanarroense de Comunicación Social), and also by
XHCOZ-TDT, an independent local station in
Cozumel, Quintana Roo. XHCOZ holds virtual channel 11 as an artifact of its former carriage of Canal Once's programming.
Canal Once continues to supply programming to state networks, such as
XHBZC-TDT in Baja California Sur. Some commercial stations in markets without public television air some Canal Once programming, notably
XEJ-TDT in
Ciudad Juárez
Ciudad Juárez ( , ; "Juárez City"), commonly referred to as just Juárez (Lipan language, Lipan: ''Tsé Táhú'ayá''), is the most populous city in the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Mexican state of Chihuahua (state), Chihuahua. It was k ...
and
XEFE-TDT in
Nuevo Laredo
Nuevo Laredo () is a city in the Municipality of Nuevo Laredo in the Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Tamaulipas. The city lies on the banks of the Rio Grande, across from Laredo, Texas, Laredo, United States. The 2010 census popula ...
.
References
External links
Official siteOnce Noticias (Newscasts)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Canal Once Mexico
Television stations in Mexico City
Television channels and stations established in 1959
Television networks in Mexico
Public television in Mexico
Instituto Politécnico Nacional
Spanish-language television stations in Mexico
1959 establishments in Mexico