The Instituto Mexicano de la Televisión (Mexican Television Institute), known commercially as Imevisión after 1985, was a state broadcaster and federal government agency of Mexico. At its height, Imevisión programmed two national networks and additional local stations in Mexico City, Chihuahua, Ciudad Juárez, Guadalajara, Mexicali, Tijuana and Monterrey.
As the Mexican government moved toward privatization, and in light of financial sustainability issues, most of Imevisión was sold in 1992 to Grupo Salinas, which came to be known as Televisión Azteca. The government retained one of Imevisión's local stations, in Mexico City, and converted it into a cultural channel under the auspices of Conaculta.
History
1972–83: The government gets into television
On March 15, 1972, the federal government expropriated the assets of Mexico City television station XHDF-TV, channel 13, as payment for debts the station held to state financier SOMEX. This marked the first direct entry of the Mexican state into the business of public television. In 1976, the government built new facilities for XHDF in Ajusco, south of Mexico City.
In April 1972, the Mexican government embarked on another television project, the creation of Televisión Rural Mexicana (Mexican Rural Television). TRM was a new television system with low-power repeaters placed across Mexico, initially 80 and ultimately numbering 110 by 1976. TRM had received station allocations as early as 1969, for a batch of about 35 stations. In 1981, Televisión Rural Mexicana became Televisión de la República Mexicana (Television of the Mexican Republic), and on April 15, 1982, TRM placed a television station on the air in Mexico City: XHTRM-TV, channel 22. XHTRM was the first UHF television station in the Mexico City area.
On March 23, 1983, the Mexican government created three new federal corporations for mass media: IMER (Instituto Mexicano de la Radio) for radio, IMCINE (Film Institute of Mexico) for film, and the Instituto Mexicano de la Televisión (Mexican Television Institute, or IMT), for television nationwide. IMT combined the existing television assets of the state, including channels 13 and 22 and their associated repeater networks nationwide. XHTRM-TV changed call signs to XEIMT-TV to correspond with the new ownership.
1983–89: Building a competitor
IMT promptly set out to further expand its broadcasting holdings. In 1985, two important events in the history of the institute took place. IMT picked up the name Imevisión as its commercial identity, including a refined logo and branding.
That same year, on May 15, it signed on a new television station in Mexico City, XHIMT-TV channel 7. In order to give Mexico City an additional VHF channel, a frequency shuffle ensued between the Televisa channel 8 in Mexico City and two Televisa stations transmitting from Altzomoni, whose signals were targeted toward Puebla. As a result, the existing channel 8 in Mexico City, XHTM-TV, moved to channel 9 and became XEQ-TV. At the same time, XEX-TV channel 7 in Puebla relocated to channel 8, and XEQ-TV channel 9 in Puebla moved to channel 10 and took on the XHTM-TV callsign.
The old TRM repeater network, still linked to channel 22, was shifted to rebroadcast channel 7, whose programming was geared toward a working-class audience in contrast to that of channel 13. Imevisión thus reached its zenith; it now controlled two national television networks, known as Red Nacional 13 (13 National Network, initially with 44 repeaters) and Red Nacional 7 (7 National Network, with 99 repeaters), as well as being the owner and operator of the following local television stations:
XHFN-TV, channel 8 in Monterrey; XHSFJ-TV, canal 11 in Guadalajara; XHJK-TV, canal 27 in Tijuana XHAQ-TV, canal 5 in Mexicali XHCH-TV, channel 2 in Chihuahua, and its satellite station, XHCJE-TV, channel 11 in Ciudad Juárez (which signed on in 1980); XEIMT-TV, channel 22 in Mexico City
Each of these stations drew from Imevisión's programming but had many of their own local programs. XHFN, which in 1974 had taken to the air broadcasting secondary education telecourses, had a local newscast known as Telenoticias. XHCH carried two local newscasts, one for the municipality and one with a regional aim. XEIMT was dedicated to movies and was known as Cine Canal 22.