Televisa

For the Venezuelan television network, see Televisa (Venezuela).
Televisa
Sociedad Anónima Bursátil
Traded as BMV: TLEVISA
NYSE: TV
Industry Mass media
Predecessor 1955 (as Telesistema Mexicano)
1965 (as Television Independiente de Mexico)
Founded January 8, 1973 (as Televisa)
Founder Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta
Headquarters Mexico City, Mexico
Key people
 Emilio Azcárraga Jean,
Ervin Azcárraga,
Bernardo Gómez Martínez,
Alfonso de Angoitia,
José Bastón Patiño[1]
Products Broadcasting, cable TV, radio, publishing, Internet
Revenue Increase US$ 5.3 billion (2012)
Profit Increase US$ 672.7 million (2012)
Number of employees
 24,362
Subsidiaries Televisa Interactive
Website www.televisa.com

Grupo Televisa, S.A.B. (Spanish pronunciation: [teleˈβisa]) is a Mexican multimedia mass media company, and the largest in Hispanic America[2][3] as well as the first of all the Spanish-speaking world.[4] It is a major international entertainment business, with much of its programming airing in the United States on Univision, with which it has an exclusive contract.

History

Interview with Lolita Ayala at the charity auction Arte en Barricas sponsored by Tequila Herradura in Mexico City

Grupo Televisa was founded in 1955 as Telesistema Mexicano, linking Mexico's first three television stations: XHTV-TV (founded in 1950), XEW-TV (1951) and XHGC-TV (1952). It was (and currently still is) owned by the Azcárraga family, O'Farril family and Ernesto Barrientos Reyes, who had signed on Mexico's first radio station, XEW-AM, in 1930. Its headquarters, known as Televicentro, were originally located on Avenida Chapultepec in downtown Mexico City. The building opened on February 10, 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 (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 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 September 7, 1970, "24 Horas" debuted and became one of Mexico's most watched news programs. The host, journalist Jacobo Zabludovsky, anchored the program for almost 3 decades.

On August 17, 1972, Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta died, and Emilio Azcárraga Milmo succeeded him as company president and owner.

On January 8, 1973, both Telesistema Mexicano and Televisión Independiente de México 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 in 1977. On March 3, 1983, Canal 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, 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 September 19, 1985, an earthquake measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale 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.

Televisa filming studio town in Chapultepec

In 1991, Televisa, with help from Japanese public television network Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai, began its first broadcast in HDTV, using the Japanese MUSE system.

Between 1993 and 1994 Televisa was about to buy Italian local TV station GBR, based in Rome, planning to import in Italy his mixed sport-telenovelas formula, but the transaction was ultimately aborted.

In April 1997, Milmo died and Emilio Azcárraga Jean succeeded him as the president of the company.

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 is the largest mass media company in Latin America, and it is owned by the Azcárraga family.[5] Televisa controls 66% of the 465 television concessions.[5] 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.[5] Televisa is capable of creating, destroying or changing what audience believe or think about something or someone due to the high influence that it has over the society.[6] In México, 6 of every 10 Mexicans get informed of what is happening in the country via television, very few people read newspapers, and the access to internet and the programing pay television are limited to the middle and high classes.[6] This is the reason of why Televisa has a great influence over the decisions in the Union Congress and over the politicians in México.[6] Televisa determines who becomes a hero, and who the villain.

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.[7] 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.[8] 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.[8] 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.[8] Televisa and TV Azteca through their news programs support government policies without criticism, and dismiss alternative voices to the dominant discourse.[8] When this event occurred, mass media portrayed the farmers of Atenco as a radical social movement without reporting the reason behind the mobilization.[8] 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.

Recent news

In August 2014, Televisa announced it would acquire the remaining shares in Mexican cable firm Cablecom it did not already own for a fee of around $653.96 million.[9]

In September 2014, it was announced that Grupo Salinas would acquire Grupo Televisa’s 50 percent stake in Mexico’s third largest wireless operator Iusacell for a fee of $717 million.[10]

Logo

Televisa's logo (January 8, 1973-December 31, 2000).
Televisa's logo (January 1, 2001-January 15, 2016).

The famed Televisa logo comes from the original 1973 design by architect Pedro Ramírez Vázquez,[11] re-designed in 2001 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Mexican television: the logo represents a human eye looking at the world through a television screen. It retains the original logo's yellow and orange colors that contrast with a dark blue background while the center of the logo is a sphere that represents the known contemporary world with its focus on communications, specifically television.

Holdings

Televisa is the second largest media conglomerate in Latin America behind Grupo Globo, 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, radio production and broadcasting, professional sports and show business promotions, paging services, feature film production and distribution, dubbing, and the operation of a horizontal Internet portal. Televisa's telenovelas generally run only one season and are broadcast internationally. The conglomerate has partially to complete interest in the following companies:

In November 2006, an American embassy cable released through Wikileaks listed Cablevisión and SKY México (both owned by Televisa), among "Mexico's monopolists", with control over a majority of Mexico's cable and satellite television, respectively.[13]

Services

Terrestrial networks

Exterior of Televisa building in Chapultepec.

Televisa provides programming throughout Mexico through four networks through local affiliates. 253 Mexican local television stations (54.8% of the total commercial stations) air programming from all four terrestrial networks.[14]
The four Televisa networks are:

Network Flagship Programming
Canal de las Estrellas XEW 2 general programming, sports, first-run telenovelas, and news
Canal 5* XHGC 5 youth-oriented programming, American series, and movies
Gala TV XEQ 9 telenovela reruns, sports, news, and comedy shows
FOROtv XHTV 4 all news channel, talk, and debate programming

Televisa beams Canal de las Estrellas, Canal 5, and Gala TV all over Mexico through satellite (much like the flagship stations in the United States) to affiliates. In addition, Televisa owns some Televisa-branded regional television stations, airing a mixture of Televisa programming and regional programming from all four Televisa terrestrial networks. FOROtv is the only network that only has one full-time affiliate, XHTV, but some of FOROtv's programming can be found on most Televisa Regional television stations.

Cable

Televisa 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. It is Televisa Networks that distributes the Canal de las Estrellas signal through satellite to Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Other channels under the Televisa Networks umbrella include:

Past Channels

Featured Channels

Televisa also operates Televisa Radio, under the brand name of "W Radio México"; it is primarily a news and talk station.

Televisa operated Noticias ECO, a 24-hour news channel, between 1988 and 2001.

It operated Galavisión Europa, featuring programming by Televisa and Univision, the channel name was changed in 2006 to Canal de las Estrellas, and broadcasts to Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.

Televisa started a streaming service called Blim to compete with other services such as Netflix. The service started on February 22, 2016.

Televisa and Univision

Televisa has an ongoing relation with the United States's Univision network, dating back to the 1960s, when Univision's predecessor, the Spanish International Network (SIN), was owned by Telesistema Mexicano, Televisa's predecessor. In 1986, Televisa became embroiled in a scandal with the SIN network news. The management wanted to produce and broadcast a newscast with Jacobo Zabludosky out of Miami. Half of the staff walked out of their jobs alleging Jacobo Zabludosky was a puppet of the Mexican Government who had soft views on Castro's Cuba. The Televisa management was dumbfounded, they decided to move the now renamed Univision Network's HQ to Laguna Niguel, outside of Los Angeles to produce their shows from there including their beleaguered news division. They returned to Miami two years later.

Televisa has been a longtime provider of programming to Univision and its sister networks. However, in recent years, Televisa's relationship with Univision has become strained. It was involved in a dispute with Univisión over the censoring and editing of its programming as well as non-payment for transmission of its programming to Univisión's Galavisión and Telefutura networks. In one editing incident, an episode of Con Todo was not shown on Galavisión due to a host appearing in blackface, and the show did not return to the cable station for two years. A breach of contract lawsuit against Univisión by Televisa has also been filed.

When Univisión came up for sale, a group including Televisa inquired about taking an up to 25% ownership stake (the maximum allowed by US law for a foreign buyer). However, a group of U.S. private equity firms eventually gained control of Univision.

Televisa is also the former owner of Fonovisa music, which it sold in 2001 to Univision. Fonovisa is now owned by Universal Music (UMLE).

In October, 2010, Televisa agreed to take a 5% stake in Univision, which it can grow in the future, 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. The agreement will run through at least 2020, but more likely 2025 or later, compared with the previous deal's 2017 expiration.[15]

Televisa along with Univision and ABC (ABC News) launched Fusion, a news channel for English speaking Latinos, on October 28, 2013.

Televisa and Telemundo

On March 18, 2008, Televisa and NBC Universal announced an 10-year multiplatform agreement that would allow 1000 hours of Telemundo 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. Marketingymedios On May 19, 2009 Telemundo and Televisa sent out announcement that the joint owned network will come together in August 2009. The network launched in August and is available on cable and satellite.

Failed purchase of Nextel Mexico operations

In January 2010, Televisa announced an offer to acquire NII Holdings (Nextel International). On February 11 Mexico's Federal Competition Commission approved a 20 percent purchase of NII stock, with the operation valued at US$1.6 billion. However, they later ended the agreement[16][17][18]

Criticism

Charges of defamation and political bias

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 founder of Televisa Emilio Azcarraga Milmo referring to himself as a "soldier of P.R.I. (Partido Revolucionario Institucional)", a longtime ruling party in Mexico; however, with the arrival of his son to the head of the network, there was the promise to cut all political ties with that party and others, this has been widely disputed, along with their impartiality when it comes to their economical interests in diverse business areas.[19]

May 2012 Rallies

On May 19, 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 (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 win the forecoming election and that their intense coverage of his activities as the Governor of Estado de Mexico, helped him positioning 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.[20]

As of 2011, its closest competitors are TV Azteca (also in Mexico) and TVE (Spain). In 2012, he was embroiled in controversy since the progressive movement, headed by leading left into Mexico Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, was openly accused of sponsoring the PRI candidate Enrique Peña Nieto.

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 led 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.[21]

Carlos Slim Helu (Telmex)

In 2011, Televisa began airing reports concerning an allegedly monopoly of Telmex 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.[22]

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.[23]

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 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.[24][25]

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)as a retaliation to Santiago Creel Miranda and others lawmakers (senadores) of all political parties involved in the approval of these laws.[26][27]

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 and Necaxa). However, that year a rival group, Imevision (now TV Azteca) 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. Rumours of then President of Mexico Carlos Salinas de Gortari being involved in this prosecution began to circulate, however this was never confirmed.[28][29]

Money laundering

On August 23, 2012, in Nicaragua were arrested 18 alleged company employees accused of international drug trafficking, organized crime and money laundering;[30] also were secured six vans that bore the logo of the media company[30] and had professional production equipment for television transmission[31] 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.[32] Supposedly stationery used in these forgeries (especially some business cards and letterhead) involving Amador Narcia, a reporter who disappears from Televisa News after this scandal.

Programming

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Televisa: Corporativo: Ejecutivos". Retrieved August 30, 2013.
  2. ↑ "Diario La Tercera (Argentina) "Televisa baja sus ganancias en primer trimestre de 2011"". Latercera.com. 2011-04-15. Retrieved 2011-11-05.
  3. ↑ http://www.maned.com/news/pressreleases/120309
  4. ↑ Putting Pictures to Work – Snell & Wilcox
  5. 1 2 3 · Mahan, E. (1985). Mexican Broadcasting: Reassessing the Industry-State Relationship. Journal of Communication, 35(1), 60-75.
  6. 1 2 3 · Davis, L. (1999). Satellite-Based Change in Mexican Television Programming and Advertising. Journal of Popular Culture, 33(3), 49-62.
  7. ↑ · Trejo, R. (2011, May). Bajo el imperio de la televisión. Panorama de la comunicación en México, pp. pp. 75-86.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 · Cancino Cifuentes, S. (2013). Narrative, Commercial Media and Atenco: Mexican Television Corporations and Political Power. Global Media Journal: Australian Edition, 7(1), 1-14.
  9. ↑ Mexico's Televisa says buys rest of Cablecom for $654 million. Reuters, 21 August 2014
  10. ↑ Mexico's Salinas to buy Televisa Iusacell stake for $717 million. Reuters, 11 September 2014
  11. ↑ http://www.televisa.com/quienes/Pedro Ramírez Vázquez
  12. ↑ [http://www.esmas.com/televisainversionistas/reports/press/]
  13. ↑ "cable 06MEXICO6413, WHO ARE MEXICO'S MONOPOLISTS?". Wikileaks. (see also )
  14. ↑ "Permisos y concesiones de televisión en México". Periodistas.scyma.info. Retrieved 2011-11-05.
  15. ↑ "Grupo Televisa Y Univision Ampliarán Relación Estratégica En Los Estados Unidos De América" (PDF). Retrieved 2011-11-05.
  16. ↑ Harrison, Crayton (2010-10-18). "Televisa Ends $1.44 Billion Agreement to Buy Stake in NII's Nextel Mexico". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2011-11-05.
  17. ↑ "Global Telecoms Business". Global Telecoms Business. Retrieved 2011-11-05.
  18. ↑ "Televisa Purchase of NII Holdings Stake Gets Approval". Businessweek.com. Retrieved 2011-11-05.
  19. ↑ "La Ley Televisa". Universidad de Málaga - eumed.net. Retrieved 2010-09-08.
  20. ↑ "Llega al Ángel marcha contra Peña Nieto y Televisa". cronica.com.mx.
  21. ↑ "Se lanza Televisa contra Grupo Reforma". Revista Zocalo.
  22. ↑ "Televisa y Telmex en 2011, la guerra de las galaxias". Revista Proceso - proceso.com.mx. Retrieved 2011-12-27.
  23. ↑ "Rafael Loret de Mola: Televisa defiende a Pablo Salazar". Consultores en Investigación y Análisis de Medios S.C. Retrieved 2011-06-13.
  24. ↑ "Tercera cadena de TV,necesidad impostergable". Revista Zocalo. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
  25. ↑ es:Isaac Saba Raffoul
  26. ↑ "Ofrece Televisa espacio a Creel y defiende pluralidad". Novedades de Tabasco. Retrieved 2008-07-15.
  27. ↑ "TELEVISA desaparece al senador Santiago Creel". Terranova Libre. Retrieved 2008-07-16.
  28. ↑ "La FMF, brazo ejecutor de Televisa". Cronica. Retrieved 2002-11-09.
  29. ↑ "El debate entre el fútbol". La Jornada Morelos. Retrieved 2012-05-05.
  30. 1 2 "PGR informa a Nicaragua sobre 18 mexicanos detenidos". Retrieved 2012-11-23.
  31. ↑ "Camionetas confiscadas en Nicaragua, equipadas para TV". Aristegui Noticias. Retrieved 2012-12-04.
  32. ↑ "Camionetas aseguradas en Nicaragua no son de Televisa". Noticieros Televisa. Retrieved 2012-12-04.

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