HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Grupo Televisa, S.A.B., simply known as Televisa, is a Mexican telecommunications and broadcasting company. A major
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 ...
n mass media corporation, it often presents itself as the largest producer of Spanish-language content. In April 2021, Televisa announced that they would sell the company's media and entertainment assets to Univision Communications, which would form a new company to be known as
TelevisaUnivision TelevisaUnivision (formerly known as Univision Communications) is a Mexican-American media company headquartered in Miami and Mexico City that owns American Spanish language broadcast network Univision and free-to-air channels in Mexico such as ...
. The transaction was completed on 31 January 2022, with Televisa owning a 45% stake of the company.


Company


History

Since its beginning, the company has been owned by the
Azcárraga family The Azcárraga family is a wealthy Mexican media dynasty. The center of their business empire, Televisa, is the main television network in Mexico and the largest producer and broadcaster of Spanish language media in the world. Notable members ...
. The company has been led and owned by three generations of Azcárraga; each has marked an era for the company and, until October 2017, each had passed the ownership of the company to his son upon his death.


Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta (1955–1972)

Grupo Televisa was founded in 1955 as
Telesistema Mexicano Telesistema Mexicano was the predecessor of Televisa. Telesistema Mexicano was a television alliance made up of the independently owned television flagship stations XEW-TV, XEW Canal 2, XHTV-TV, XHTV Canal 4, and XHGC-TV, XHGC Canal 5 in Mexico, D ...
, linking Mexico's first three television stations:
XHTV-TV XHTV-TDT (channel 4) is a Mexican television station, serving Mexico City as the flagship relay of the N+ Foro channel. The station is owned-and-operated by locally based Grupo Televisa alongside XEW-TDT, XHGC-TDT and XEQ-TDT carrying Las Estrel ...
(founded in 1950),
XEW-TV XEW-TDT (channel 2) is a television station in Mexico City, Mexico. The station is owned by TelevisaUnivision and is the flagship station to the Las Estrellas network. XEW is the second-oldest Televisa station and Mexico City's second-oldest s ...
(1951) and
XHGC-TV XHGC-TDT (channel 5) is a television station in Mexico City. Owned and operated by TelevisaUnivision, it is the flagship of the Canal 5 network. History XHGC signed on May 10, 1952, broadcasting a Mother's Day event organized by the Excélsi ...
(1952). Along with Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta, the O'Farril family and Ernesto Barrientos Reyes, who had signed on Mexico's first radio station,
XEW-AM XEW-AM (900 kHz) and XEW-FM (96.9 MHz) are commercial radio stations in Mexico City, Mexico, simulcasting a news/talk radio format branded as ''W Radio''. XEW serves as the flagship for other "W Radio" stations around Mexico that carry some or ...
, in 1930, were co-owners of the firm. Its headquarters, known as Televicentro, were originally located on Avenida
Chapultepec Chapultepec, more commonly called the "Bosque de Chapultepec" (Chapultepec Forest) in Mexico City, is one of the largest Nature Value Area´s in Mexico, measuring in total just over . Centered on a rock formation called Chapultepec Hill, one of ...
in downtown Mexico City. The building opened on 10 February 1952. The channel was the first national network to be broadcast in color in 1963. Before the launch, Telesistema began airing in color in the late 1950s in select cities along the U.S.-Mexico border, given the fact that color signals were already present since the start of US color television in the decade starting from 1954. In 1968, Telesistema's main competitor,
Televisión Independiente de México Televisión Independiente de México (; known on air as TIM or Cadena TIM) was a Television in Mexico, Mexican national television network founded in 1965 by Eugenio Garza Sada. It operated until 1973, when it merged with its primary competitor, Te ...
(TIM), entered Mexico City with XHTM-TV Canal 8. At the time, both Telesistema and TIM (which was based in Monterrey) competed with another new station,
XHDF-TV XHDF-TDT (channel 1) is the flagship station of Mexico's Azteca Uno television network, located in Mexico City. Azteca Uno can be seen in most major cities in Mexico through TV Azteca's owned-and-operated transmitter network. XHDF provides HD ...
channel 13, which also started transmissions in 1968. Over the next four years, both networks competed in content and image until they merged, taking on the name "Televisa" in 1973. In the merger deal, the owners of Telesistema had 75 percent of the stocks, while the owners of Televisión Independiente had the rest, which were sold to Telesistema later because of financial problems. On 7 September 1970, ''24 Horas'' debuted and became one of Mexico's most-watched news programs. The host, journalist
Jacobo Zabludovsky Jacobo Zabludovsky Kraveski (May 24, 1928 – July 2, 2015) was a Mexican journalist. He was the first anchorman in Mexican television and his TV news program, ''24 Horas'' (''24 Hours'') was for decades regarded as the most important in the co ...
, anchored the newscast for almost three decades. The 1973 merger brought in another new face who would later help revolutionize television and pop music:
Raúl Velasco Raúl Velasco Ramírez (April 24, 1933 – November 26, 2006) was a Mexican Television presenter, host/Television producer, producer of the TV show ''Siempre en Domingo (TV series), Siempre en Domingo'' (''Always on Sunday'') which is his hallma ...
and his Sunday program ''Siempre en Domingo'', which was, from the start, being aired on Telesistema. Its successful run of 29 seasons (1969–98) not only featured the best pop artists from Spain and Latin America as well as from English-speaking countries, but also the most successful local singers, and its broadcast into many countries in both North and South America helped promote Latin pop to millions of television viewers.


Emilio Azcárraga Milmo (1972–1997)

On 17 August 1972,
Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta (2 March 1895 – 23 September 1972) was a Mexican businessman, known for founding the entertainment conglomerate Telesistema Mexicano (now Televisa). Early life Azcárraga was born on 2 March 1895 in Tampico, Ta ...
died, and
Emilio Azcárraga Milmo Emilio Azcárraga Milmo or Emilio Azcárraga Jr. (September 6, 1930, in San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas – April 16, 1997, outside Miami, Miami, Florida) was a Mexican businessman and the son of Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta and Laura Milmo Hi ...
succeeded him as company president and owner. On 8 January 1973, both
Telesistema Mexicano Telesistema Mexicano was the predecessor of Televisa. Telesistema Mexicano was a television alliance made up of the independently owned television flagship stations XEW-TV, XEW Canal 2, XHTV-TV, XHTV Canal 4, and XHGC-TV, XHGC Canal 5 in Mexico, D ...
and
Televisión Independiente de México Televisión Independiente de México (; known on air as TIM or Cadena TIM) was a Television in Mexico, Mexican national television network founded in 1965 by Eugenio Garza Sada. It operated until 1973, when it merged with its primary competitor, Te ...
merged, taking on the name Televisa, an acronym for ''Televisión Via Satélite'' in Spanish. In 1975, brothers Emilio Diez Barroso and Fernando Diez Barroso began working in the presidency offices of Televisa. Televisa started to transmit several programs produced by the
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public university, public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countri ...
in 1977. On 3 March 1983, Channel 8 was reformatted to become a cultural channel, offering informative programs, debates and cultural shows. In 1985, a frequency swap moved the station from channel 8 to 9, and Televisa also decided to swap its callsign for that of
XEQ-TV XEQ-TDT (channel 9) is a television station in Mexico City, serving as the flagship of the Nu9ve network. Unlike the other major networks in Mexico, Nu9ve is broadcast by a mix of full-time repeaters as well as local stations, operated by Telev ...
, which had been on channel 9 and broadcast from Altzomoni; the XHTM callsign was moved to that station, which was moved to channel 10. Canal 9 eventually became Galavisión, now known as Gala TV. On 19 September 1985, an
earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...
measuring 8.1 on the
Richter scale The Richter scale (), also called the Richter magnitude scale, Richter's magnitude scale, and the Gutenberg–Richter scale, is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Richter in collaboration with Beno Gutenberg, and pr ...
caused widespread damage in Mexico City and destroyed the south tower of Televisa's main building. Nonetheless, Televisa's transmissions were not seriously affected. However, several dubbed TV shows were lost. In 1991, Televisa, with help from Japanese public
television network A television broadcaster or television network is a telecommunications network for the distribution of television show, television content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations, pay television providers or ...
NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...
(Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai), began its first broadcast in
HDTV High-definition television (HDTV) describes a television or video system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since at least 1933; in more recent times, it ref ...
, using the Japanese Multiple sub-Nyquist sampling Encoding MUSE system, the first in Latin America. Between 1993 and 1994 Televisa was about to buy Italian local TV station GBR, based in Rome, planning to import in Italy the network's mixed sport-''telenovelas'' formula, but the transaction was ultimately aborted. It was Azcárraga Milmo who presided over the launch of company owned
Noticias ECO Noticias ECO (''Empresa de Comunicaciones Orbitales, S.A. de C.V.'', lit. Orbital Communications Company), also known as ECO News, was a Mexican news channel, which broadcast from 1 September 1988 to 1 May 2001. It was the first 24-hour news cha ...
in 1988, which was the first Spanish language cable and satellite news network in Latin America. In 1994, Televisa gained 62 new television concessions for relay stations of its networks, a decision that was criticized for its lack of transparency.


Emilio Azcárraga Jean (1997–2017)

In April 1997, Milmo died and Emilio Azcárraga Jean succeeded him as the president of the company. Azcárraga Jean was 29 years old and he was one of the youngest executives in Mexico at that time. In December 1997, Televisa joined with other Mexican media companies to create a marathon known as '' Teletón'', whose mission is to provide knowledge about physical disabilities, giving a strong message about respect, equality and support to people in these conditions. This movement from media, enterprises and Mexicans is reflected in the buildings created with the money from this Marathon, named Centros de Rehabilitación Infantil (CRIT). It is said that sponsors use it as a way to deduce taxes as the Teletón takes place at the end of the fiscal year and therefore allows companies to deduce their donations before declaring their incomes. Televisa introduced a new logo on 1 January 2001, putting eight lines instead of ten, and it closely resembles the previous logo. Changes include the sun now being a 3D ball, which in turn making the logo an eye, and the wordmark was brought back and in Helvetica Black. Televisa is the largest mass media company in Latin America, and it is owned by the Azcárraga family.· Mahan, E. (1985). Mexican Broadcasting: Reassessing the Industry-State Relationship. Journal of Communication, 35(1), 60-75. Televisa controls 66% of the 465 television concessions. Also Televisa owns television programing and broadcasting, programing pay television, publishing distribution, cable television, radio production and broadcasting, football teams (Club Necaxa and Club America), stadiums, Televisa editorial (that makes books, newspapers and magazines), paging services, professional sports and business promotion, film production and distribution, dubbing, operation of horizontal internet portal, DVD distribution, EMI Televisa music, Playcity casino, etc. There is complicity between Mexican media and government. Media and political power in México have a symbiotic relationship where the economic elites that control the media (Televisa and TV Azteca) are privileged in exchange for their support for the policies and actions of the government. In México the mass media owners are likely to have access to high levels of the Mexican government. On 3 May 2006, the community of San Salvador Atenco was violently repressed by the Mexican police who used excessive force and committed severe human rights violations. This event was one of the most violent repressions in the nation's history. This event is important because it shows how Televisa and TV Azteca were involved in inciting and supporting the repression of the people of Atenco by the government in México. The approval of the repression of Atenco by TV Azteca and Televisa can be seen as a clear example of the collaboration between mass media and government. Televisa and TV Azteca through their news programs support government policies without criticism and dismiss alternative voices to the dominant discourse. When this event occurred, mass media portrayed the farmers of Atenco as a radical social movement without reporting the reason behind the mobilization. In México the mass media are not there to provide objective information, México is under the shadow of authoritative journalism, in which they are only there to endorse an agenda that is aligned with the government. In August 2014, Televisa announced it would acquire the remaining shares in Mexican cable firm Cablecom that it did not already own for a fee of around $653.96 million. In September 2014, it was announced that
Grupo Salinas Grupo Salinas is a corporate conglomerate formed in 2001 by several Mexican companies. The group consists of TV Azteca, Grupo Elektra, Mazatlán F.C., Telecosmo, and Italika. Each of these companies operates independently with its own mana ...
would acquire Grupo Televisa's 50 percent stake in Mexico's third largest wireless operator
Iusacell AT&T Mexico, S.A.U. (formerly known as Iusacell and Nextel Mexico), also known as AT&T Mexico Wireless and AT&T Mexico Mobility, is a Mexican mobile telephone operator and subsidiary of AT&T. AT&T Mexico is headquartered in Mexico City. Its mobil ...
for a fee of $717 million. In January 2016, Televisa introduced a new branding, including a new logo design: an updated version of the company's logo from 1973, and a new slogan "Tu companía, tu más".


Post-Azcárraga family leadership; sale of content assets to Univision and spin-off of gambling, publishing and sports assets (2017–present)

Emilio Azcárraga Jean renounced the leadership of Televisa in October 2017, although he remains chairman of the company's board of directors. The newly appointed leader of the company will be the first not to be part of the Azcarraga family. The move was made to combat the massive decline in Televisa's viewership created by the rise in popularity of
Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
and other
video streaming Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typical static broadcasting ...
services, becoming more popular than
cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...
, as well as the end of the duopoly of private channels caused by the arrival of new players in the 2010s. On 13 April 2021, Televisa announced that it would sell its content assets to its longtime U.S. partner, Univision Communications which it would combine Televisa's four free-to-air television networks in Mexico,
specialty channel A specialty channel (also known in the United States as a cable channel or cable network) can be a commercial broadcasting or non-commercial television channel which consists of television programming focused on a single genre, subject or targete ...
s, its Videocine film studio, and the Televisa trademark; with Univision's broadcast networks and specialty channels, radio, and digital assets. The merger was targeted to be completed by the end of that year, subject to U.S. and Mexican regulatory reviews, and the new company would be known as
TelevisaUnivision TelevisaUnivision (formerly known as Univision Communications) is a Mexican-American media company headquartered in Miami and Mexico City that owns American Spanish language broadcast network Univision and free-to-air channels in Mexico such as ...
. Televisa would own 45% of the combined company and would retain its shares in
Club America Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises * ...
football team, telecommunication company
Izzi Telecom izzi is a Mexican telecommunications company owned by Grupo Televisa and operated by ''Televisión Internacional, S.A. de C.V.'' It is listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange under the code CABLE. izzi provides telephone, Internet, cable TV and mob ...
, satellite TV provider Sky Mexico, and publishing businesses, as well as the
broadcast license A broadcast license is a type of spectrum license granting the licensee permission to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses generally include restrictions, which va ...
s for free-to-air TV stations within Mexico and other infrastructure for the company's four TV networks; the national and local TV news operations were spun off into Tritón Comunicaciones. The sale was approved by Mexico's
Federal Telecommunications Institute The Federal Telecommunications Institute (Spanish Language, Spanish: ''Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones''; abbreviated as IFT and incorrectly referred to as IFETEL, Tzeltal language, Tzeltal: ''Snaul jtsob a’telelil Sk’asesojibal k’o ...
(IFT) on 15 September 2021. The merger was approved by American
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...
(FCC) on 24 January 2022, while the sale was completed on 31 January of that same year. In 2023, Televisa announced plans to spin off its gambling and sports operations as a separate company. The company was named Ollamani and the spin-off was completed on 20 February 2024. In 2024, Televisa acquired AT&T's controlling stake in Sky México, pending regulatory approval. That same year, the company announced that Azcárraga would be taking an "administrative leave" pending the results of a
United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...
investigation regarding the broadcasting rights to
FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...
tournaments.


Properties and services


Properties or partial properties

Televisa is the second-largest media conglomerate in Latin America behind
Grupo Globo Grupo Globo (), formerly and still legally known as Organizações Globo (), is a Brazilian privately held company, private entertainment and mass media conglomerate (company), conglomerate based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Founded in 1925 by I ...
, with interests in television broadcasting, programming for pay television, international distribution of television programming, direct-to-home satellite services, publishing and publishing distribution,
cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...
,
radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3  hertz (Hz) and 300  gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...
production and broadcasting, professional sports and show business promotions, paging services,
feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...
production and distribution, dubbing, and the operation of a horizontal
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 ...
portal. TelevisaUnivision Mexico's
telenovela A telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines ''tele'' (for "television") and ''novela'' (meaning "novel"). Similar Drama (film and television), drama genres around the w ...
s generally run only one season and are broadcast internationally. The conglomerate has partially to complete interest in the following companies:


Telecommunications and pay-television industry

*Cable providers **
Izzi Telecom izzi is a Mexican telecommunications company owned by Grupo Televisa and operated by ''Televisión Internacional, S.A. de C.V.'' It is listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange under the code CABLE. izzi provides telephone, Internet, cable TV and mob ...
(formerly known as ''Cablevisión México'') is 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 ...
,
fixed telephony A landline is a physical telephone connection that uses metal wires or optical fiber from the subscriber's premises to the network, allowing multiple phones to operate simultaneously on the same phone number. It is also referred to as plain old ...
and
cable TV Cable television is a system of delivering television broadcast programming, programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This ...
provider of Grupo Televisa. The company is made of several formerly separate companies (Cablevisión DF, Cablemas, Cablevisión Monterrey, Cablecom and Telecable) combined to provide competition against
Telmex Teléfonos de México, S.A.B. de C.V., known as Telmex is a Mexican telecommunications company headquartered in Mexico City that provides telecommunications products and services in Mexico. In 2014, Telmex was the dominant fixed-line phone carri ...
. *
Sky México Sky México, a trading name of Corporacion Novavision S. DE R.L. DE C.V., is a company that operates a subscription television service in Mexico, Central America and Dominican Republic. It produces TV content, and owns several TV channels. It ...


Publishing (books, magazines and newspapers)

*Editorial Televisa **''
Vanidades ''Vanidades'' (Spanish for ''Vanities'') is one of the most popular Spanish language women's magazines. Published by Editorial Televisa across the United States and Hispanic America, it was launched in Cuba in February 1937 by Editorial Carteles ...
'' **''
TVyNovelas ''TVyNovelas'' is a Mexican magazine published by Editorial Televisa on a monthly basis. Like soap opera publications in the United States such as ''Soap Opera Digest'' and '' Soaps In Depth'', it mainly carries coverage of Mexican and internat ...
'' **'' Rolling Stone Mexico'' **'' Muy Interesante'' (Mexico) * Intermex (Editorial house)


Websites

* Comercio Más (Internet EsMas.com) * Televisa Digital (Internet) *
N+ LIVE N, or n, is the fourteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages, and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...


Studios

* Televisa
Chapultepec Chapultepec, more commonly called the "Bosque de Chapultepec" (Chapultepec Forest) in Mexico City, is one of the largest Nature Value Area´s in Mexico, measuring in total just over . Centered on a rock formation called Chapultepec Hill, one of ...
*
Televisa San Ángel Televisa San Ángel (originally Estudios y Laboratorios San Ángel, S.A.) is a film and television studio located in Mexico City. It was originally built by Jorge Stahl as a motion picture studio, and in the 1970s would be sold to the Azcárraga ...
* Televisa Santa Fe * Televisa
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 ...
* Televisa
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 ...
* Televisa
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 ...


Other

* Fundación Televisa * Más Fondos (Investment Group) *
Volaris Volaris (legally ''Concesionaria Vuela Compañía de Aviación S.A.B. de C.V.'') is a Mexican low-cost airline based in Santa Fe, Mexico City, Santa Fe, Álvaro Obregón, Mexico City, Álvaro Obregón, Mexico City with its operating bases in Canc ...
(Airline) ''(Sold on 16 July 2010)'' * Playcity Casino (Gambling) * Multijuegos (Lotto)


Media networks

Televisa is the largest shareholder of TelevisaUnivision, which provides programming throughout Mexico through four networks via
Las Estrellas Las Estrellas () is a Mexican television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. Its first official broadcast took place on 21 March 1951. It airs free-to-air through affiliate stations throughout Mexico, based on XEW-TDT in Mexico City. It is con ...
, Foro, Canal 5 and
Nu9ve Nueve (English: Nine) (stylized Nu9ve) is a Mexican free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. The primary station and network namesake is Channel 9 of Mexico City (also known by its call sign XEQ-TDT), though the network has n ...
, and in the United States via
Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the L ...
and
UniMás UniMás (, stylized as ''UNIMÁS'', and originally known as TeleFutura from its launch on January 14, 2002, to January 6, 2013) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. ...
through local affiliates. 253 Mexican local television stations (54.8% of the total commercial stations), and 59 US local television stations air programming from all six terrestrial networks. TelevisaUnivision also operates a subsidiary called Televisa Networks (it's still often recognized within the entertainment industry by its previous moniker, Visat). This subsidiary is responsible for the distribution of Televisa programmes by satellite. The company also distributes the international feed of Las Estrellas via satellite to Latin America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.


Programming


Criticisms and controversies


Political bias, defamation and impartial news coverage

Due to Televisa's multiple and diverse areas of business and political interests around the country, Latin America and the U.S., it has been often accused of airing misleading information about individuals or organizations in which may exist a conflict of interest. Many remember the famous phrase from the former owner of Televisa Emilio Azcarraga Milmo referring to himself as a "soldado del
Partido Revolucionario Institucional The Institutional Revolutionary Party (, , PRI) is a political party in Mexico that was founded in 1929 as the National Revolutionary Party (, PNR), then as the Party of the Mexican Revolution (, PRM) and finally as the PRI beginning in 1946. T ...
(PRI)" (soldier of the Institutional Revolutionary Party), the longtime ruling
political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...
in Mexico that held presidency of Mexico uninterruptedly for 71 years from 1929 to 2000, however, with his death and the arrival of his son Emilio Azcarraga Jean to the head of the network, there was the promise to cut all political ties with the PRI. However, if the relationship ended or not has been widely disputed, along with their impartiality when it comes to their economic interests in diverse business areas.


Francisco Ibarra and Emilio Maurer

Long before 1991, Televisa exercised strong control over the Mexican Football Federation (''Federación Mexicana de Fútbol'') in which they participated with the ownership of two teams (
Club América Club de Fútbol América S.A. de C.V., commonly known as Club América, is a professional association football, football club based in Mexico City. Nicknamed ''Las Águilas'' (The Eagles), it competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football ...
and
Necaxa Impulsora del Deportivo Necaxa S.A. de C.V. (); often simply known as Club Necaxa, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in Aguascalientes (city), Aguascalientes. It competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican ...
). However, that year a rival group, Imevision (now
TV Azteca Televisión Azteca, S.A.B. de C.V., commonly known as TV Azteca, is a Mexican multimedia conglomerate owned by Grupo Salinas. It is the second-largest mass media company in Mexico after Televisa. It primarily competes with Televisa as well as so ...
) took control over the federation with Francisco Ibarra as the acting president and Emilio Maurer as Secretary, both of whom started a series of changes concerning mainly to the administration of a poll of money earned in sponsorships of the National Soccer Team; this fight resulted in a prosecution through several TV channels owned by the network resulting in Ibarra and Maurer being expelled from the Federation, even Maurer being incarcerated. Rumors of then President of Mexico Carlos Salinas de Gortari being involved in this prosecution began to circulate, however, this was never confirmed.


Santiago Creel Miranda

In 2008, the approval of a series of laws that would enable the Federal Institute of Elections (IFE) to buy in exclusive airtime for political campaigns on TV networks, radio and newspapers for all political parties, that would undermine the economical revenue of Televisa and TV Azteca in marketing political candidates to public election posts, led to the virtual "disappearance" in news shows and other programming of Televisa network (along with TV Azteca) in retaliation to Santiago Creel Miranda and other lawmakers (senadores) of all political parties involved in the approval of these laws.


Issac Saba Raffoul

In 2010, Televisa (along with competitor TV Azteca) began airing a series of reports in their news shows in which they claimed that businessman Isaac Saba Raffoul held a monopoly in the field of pharmaceuticals distribution along with the country with their enterprise Grupo Saba, those affirmations occurred as a consequence of the business partnership between Isaac Saba Raffoul and General Electric to become the third national television network. This partnership, in the potential case of becoming successful in acquiring rights from the Federal Government to transmit along the country, would have diminished the TV market share of Televisa and TV Azteca.


Grupo Reforma

In 2011, Televisa began airing a series of reports related to publication of classifieds on newspapers owned by Grupo Reforma (a large holding of businesses that includes newspapers, online news and others) of women offering sex service, often offered as massage service, escort service, etc. implying these could lead to various crimes like human trafficking, sexual slavery, kidnapping of women and others (prostitution laws in Mexico are very ambiguous). Although those classifieds are published in a wide range of newspapers around the country, Televisa specifically targeted Grupo Reforma's publications. Analysts say this was a retaliation against Grupo Reforma for their extense coverage of the affair of their star news anchor Carlos Loret de Mola, all of this, however, as a retaliation itself to the fact that Televisa obtained licenses to provide third and fourth generation wireless services in partnership with communications giant Nextel.


Carlos Slim Helu (Telmex)

In 2011, Televisa began airing reports concerning an allegedly monopoly of
Telmex Teléfonos de México, S.A.B. de C.V., known as Telmex is a Mexican telecommunications company headquartered in Mexico City that provides telecommunications products and services in Mexico. In 2014, Telmex was the dominant fixed-line phone carri ...
and America Movil (Telcel) on national cellular phone service and claiming that customers were being overcharged; also claiming that fees to interconnect to existing cellular grid and infrastructure to third parties were excessively high. This fight occurred when both companies were trying to obtain from the Federal Government the rights to offer to customers "Triple Play" which means that one carrier could provide cellular service, television and internet in one complete package. However, this matter resulted on interminable courtroom fights between both parties and the decision has been delayed so far.


Pablo Salazar Mendiguchia

In 2011 Televisa began airing an extense coverage on the arrest and incarceration of Chiapas ex-governor Pablo Salazar Mendiguchia, accused of several crimes, this coverage was prolonged and very extensive. In an interview with journalist Carmen Aristegui, famed writer and analyst Rafael Loret de Mola accepted to some degree that perhaps a political prosecution was occurring, but that his main concern was that he had (and showed on air) a legal document in which Adela Micha Zaga (a news anchor with Televisa) gives legal power to then ex-governor Pablo Salazar Mendiguchia (also a lawyer) to act as an inmobiliary agent to sell a condo she possessed a few years ago. His concern was about a "perverse" relation between Salazar and Televisa journalists.


May 2012 rallies

On 19 May 2012 a series of rallies "Marchas Anti-Peña" (Rallies Against-Peña) were held across the country (D.F., Guadalajara, Monterrey, Pachuca, Aguascalientes, Chihuahua, Tuxtla Gutierrez, Jalapa, Colima, and others). In addition to proclaiming dislike of
Enrique Peña Nieto Enrique Peña Nieto (; born 20 July 1966), commonly referred to by his initials EPN, is a Mexican former politician and lawyer who was the 64th president of Mexico from 2012 to 2018. A member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), he p ...
(the political candidate of the PRI), the protest was also aimed at the news coverage of Peña Nieto, principally by the program Tercer Grado. The rally organizers claimed that Televisa was actively assisting Peña Nieto to win the forecoming election and that their intense coverage of his activities as the Governor of Estado de Mexico, helped him position as the No. 1 in opinion polls. Rallies also occurred outside of Televisa San Angel (Televisa headquarters), where some of the protesters were permitted to air their points of view on a nationwide telecast. As of 2011, its closest competitors are
TV Azteca Televisión Azteca, S.A.B. de C.V., commonly known as TV Azteca, is a Mexican multimedia conglomerate owned by Grupo Salinas. It is the second-largest mass media company in Mexico after Televisa. It primarily competes with Televisa as well as so ...
(also in Mexico) and TVE (Spain). In 2012, he was embroiled in controversy since the progressive movement, headed by leading left into Mexico
Andrés Manuel López Obrador Andrés Manuel López Obrador (; born 13 November 1953), also known by his initials AMLO, is a Mexican former politician, political scientist, public administrator and writer who served as the 65th president of Mexico from 2018 to 2024. He se ...
, was openly accused of sponsoring the PRI candidate
Enrique Peña Nieto Enrique Peña Nieto (; born 20 July 1966), commonly referred to by his initials EPN, is a Mexican former politician and lawyer who was the 64th president of Mexico from 2012 to 2018. A member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), he p ...
.


Money laundering

On 23 August 2012, 18 alleged company employees were arrested in Nicaragua, accused of international drug trafficking, organized crime and money laundering; six vans that bore the logo of the media company also were seized which had professional production equipment for television transmission and registered in the name Televisa SA de CV, where drugs and $9.2 million in cash were transported. According to statements of the television itself, detainees do not belong to Televisa, and the vehicles were registered with false documents to the Ministry of Transport and Roads of the Federal District. Supposedly stationery used in these forgeries (especially some business cards and letterhead) involved Amador Narcia, a reporter who disappeared from Televisa News following this scandal.


Televisa political bias in favor of Margarita Zavala controversy

On 21 November 2016 Televisa released a telenovela (
soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...
) titled ''
La candidata ''La candidata'' is a Mexican telenovela produced by Giselle González for Televisa. It is an original story about the world of politics. A total of 60 episodes have been confirmed so far. ''La Candidata'' was well received by critics, with it ...
'' (The candidate La" is a feminine noun portrayed by actress
Silvia Navarro Silvia Angélica Navarro Barba (born September 14, 1978) is a Mexicans, Mexican actor, actress. She debuted as actress in 1997, in the lead role in the telenovela ''Perla (TV series), Perla''. Since then, she continued to work for Mexican TV n ...
as Regina Bárcenas (whom acts as the speculated fictional stand-in for
Margarita Zavala Margarita Ester Zavala Gómez del Campo (; born on 25 July 1967) is a Mexican lawyer and politician serving as Member of the Chamber of Deputies (Mexico), Chamber of Deputies for Mexico City, Mexico City's 10th District since 2021. She is marri ...
) and
Rafael Sánchez Navarro Rafael Sánchez Navarro (born 1958) is a Spanish- Mexican actor. He is the son of Manolo Fábregas, an actor from Spain who established himself in Mexico. Biography Navarro grew up in a family of actors. Seeing his relatives on television, film ...
as her husband Alonso San Roman (which acts as the speculated fictional stand-in for
Felipe Calderón Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa (; born 18 August 1962) is a Mexican politician and lawyer who served as the 63rd president of Mexico from 2006 to 2012 and Secretary of Energy during the presidency of Vicente Fox between 2003 and 2004. ...
). It is heavily speculated this television program, was created in order to favor Zavala in the 2018 elections against MORENA's political candidate
Andrés Manuel López Obrador Andrés Manuel López Obrador (; born 13 November 1953), also known by his initials AMLO, is a Mexican former politician, political scientist, public administrator and writer who served as the 65th president of Mexico from 2018 to 2024. He se ...
whom Televisa supposedly didn't want as president due to his left-leaning political viewpoints.


Alleged under-coverage of Jaime "El Bronco" Rodriguez Calderon

Previous to the release of the telenovela, during the same year Televisa found in itself on another political bias controversy showing bias against Nuevo León's governor Jaime "El Bronco" Rodríguez Calderón who is a potential 2018 presidential candidate It happened on 11 September 2016, during a Live-Television News broadcast from "Monterrey al Dia" where Televisa news reporter, Karla Minaya, mistakenly said: "" ("we have to try to mention the governor as little as possible") which was perceived to show clear signs of political bias from the network. The Mexican newspaper '' El Universal'' published on social media a video of the event, which was covered by national news media although Televisa did not cover the story and declined to comment. El Bronco's predecessor Rodrigo Medina de la Cruz had spent 4000 millions of pesos on payments to television news media (Televisa included), supposedly to clean his image. Sick of what he considered to be the corruption in the Mexican media, El Bronco had previously vowed to not spend a single peso on purchasing favorable media coverage. So supposedly in retaliation, the Mexican Televisa news mentioned him the least possible, or with biased news coverage of unfair criticisms and defamation. In El Bronco's own words: (There are 314 denouncements of stolen cars, we retrieved 229, but since we didn't pay Televisa, Multimedios and TV Azteca they don't show it. We have disbanded a band of thieves of cars and trucks. We have said it on every press round, but Televisa, Multimedios and TV Azteca don't show it.)


2017 Puebla earthquake fake news controversy

On 19 September 2017, an 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit
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 ...
, collapsing 40 buildings. During the news coverage of the devastation, Televisa reported there was a 12-year-old girl named Frida Sofia trapped within the debris of the Enrique C. Rébsamen school. The
Mexican Navy The Mexican Navy () is one of the components of the Mexican Armed Forces. The Secretariat of the Navy is in charge of administration of the navy. The commander of the navy is the Secretary of the Navy, who is both a cabinet minister and a career ...
initially corroborated the story, but on September 21, officials claimed that they were "sure that the existence of the minor was not a reality." Televisa was heavily criticized for sharing fake news and making rescue teams waste time saving a non-existing girl, distracting them from saving real people trapped in the debris. Later that day, rival network
TV Azteca Televisión Azteca, S.A.B. de C.V., commonly known as TV Azteca, is a Mexican multimedia conglomerate owned by Grupo Salinas. It is the second-largest mass media company in Mexico after Televisa. It primarily competes with Televisa as well as so ...
decided to air S3E13 of ''
The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...
'', "
Radio Bart "Radio Bart" is the thirteenth episode of the The Simpsons season 3, third season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox in the United States on January 9, 1992. In the e ...
", whose plot consisted of
Bart Simpson Bartholomew Jo-Jo "Bart" Simpson is a character in the American animated television series ''The Simpsons'' who is part of the titular family. Bart made his television debut in the short " Good Night" on '' The Tracey Ullman Show'' on Apri ...
fooling the people on Springfield into thinking a little kid named Timmy O'Toole was trapped in a hole, mirroring the way Televisa fooled Mexico about Frida Sofia. Timmy O'Toole soon became the topic of
internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...
s.


Denigratory treatment towards women

In the
Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
documentary '' Cuando conocí al Chapo: La historia de Kate del Castillo'' focused on the story of how actress
Kate del Castillo Kate del Castillo Negrete Trillo (; born October 23, 1972) is a Mexican and American actress. At the age of 19, del Castillo became known for her lead role in the telenovela ''Muchachitas'' for Televisa in 1991. Afterwards, she continued her car ...
met Mexican
drug dealer A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestio ...
Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera (; born 4 April 1957), commonly known as "El Chapo", is a Mexican former drug lord and a former leader within the Sinaloa Cartel. Guzmán is believed to be responsible for the deaths of over 34,000 people, ...
. The aforementioned former Televisa actress, along producer Epigmenio Ibarra, both stated that during the 90's Televisa treated actresses as sex objects, going as far as offering them to investors and publicists.


Partnerships with other television networks


Televisa and Univision

Televisa has an ongoing relation with the US-based
Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the L ...
network, dating back to the 1960s, when Univision's predecessor, the Spanish International Network (SIN), was owned by
Telesistema Mexicano Telesistema Mexicano was the predecessor of Televisa. Telesistema Mexicano was a television alliance made up of the independently owned television flagship stations XEW-TV, XEW Canal 2, XHTV-TV, XHTV Canal 4, and XHGC-TV, XHGC Canal 5 in Mexico, D ...
, Televisa's predecessor. In October 2010, Televisa agreed to take a 5% stake in
Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the L ...
and to extend and expand the companies' long-term program license agreement. The new program license agreement will include Internet and mobile rights and cover key Mexican football (soccer) rights and will run through at least 2020.


Televisa and Telemundo

On 18 March 2008, Televisa and
NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC (abbreviated as NBCU and Trade name, doing business as NBCUniversal or Comcast NBCUniversal since 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media and Show business, entertainment conglomerate (comp ...
announced a 10-year multiplatform agreement that would allow 1,000 hours of
Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast. It provides content ...
programming from news, entertainment programs, specials, and sports to be broadcast over not only its Galavision channel (XEQ-TV), but also its SKY Channel and Cablevision cable system starting in April, as well as a planned Telemundo pay TV channel to be launched later in 2008.


Televisa's uncompleted agreement to acquire a stake in Nextel Mexico

In January 2010, Televisa announced an offer to acquire a 30% stake in Nextel Mexico from
NII Holdings NII Holdings, Inc. (formerly Nextel International) was an American holding company that, through its subsidiary Nextel Telecomunicações Ltda., provided mobile communications services under the Nextel brand in Latin America. NII last operated 3G ...
for US$1.44 billion. However, they later terminated the agreement.


In popular culture


Film depiction

The perceived political favoritism of Televisa towards the PRI, and the concept of the "cortinas de humo (smoke screens)" was explored in the Mexican black-comedy film '' The Perfect Dictatorship'' (2014), directed and written by Luis Estrada, whose plot directly criticizes both the PRI and Televisa. Taking place in a Mexico with a tightly controlled media landscape, the plot centers around a corrupt politician (a fictional stand-in for Enrique Peña Nieto) from a political party (serving as a fictional stand-in for the PRI), and how he makes a deal with TV MX (which serves as a stand-in to Televisa) to manipulate the diffusion of news towards his benefit, in order to save his political career. The director made it based on the perceived media manipulation in Mexico.


Logos

File:Logotipo de Televisa (1973-1980).png, 1973–1980 File:Logotipo de Televisa Aureo.png, 1980-1990 File:Logotipo de Televisa (1990-1998).png, 1990–2000 File:Logotipo de Televisa.svg, 2016–2022 File:Logo de Grupo Televisa.svg, 2022–present (currently used as a brand logo)


References


External links

*
Televisa website
*
Esmas
Televisa's Internet portal *
NovelaLounge
News on upcoming Televisa telenovelas {{Authority control 1991 initial public offerings Azcárraga family Companies based in Mexico City Companies in the Indice de Precios y Cotizaciones Companies in the S&P Latin America 40 Companies listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Conglomerate companies established in 1973 Conglomerate companies of Mexico Entertainment companies established in 1973 Entertainment companies of Mexico Family-owned companies of Mexico Mass media companies established in 1973 Mass media companies of Mexico Mexican brands Mexican companies established in 1973 Multinational companies headquartered in Mexico Television broadcasting companies of Mexico Television channels and stations established in 1973 Television production companies of Mexico Home video companies of Mexico Home video distributors