XHILA-TDT (virtual channel 66) is a full-service,
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
-language,
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
television station
A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...
in
Mexicali
Mexicali (; ) is the capital city of the Mexican state of Baja California. The city, seat of the Mexicali Municipality, has a population of 689,775, according to the 2010 census, while the Calexico–Mexicali metropolitan area is home to 1,000, ...
,
Baja California
Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...
. It broadcasts a digital signal on
UHF
Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...
channel 46, serving the Mexicali Valley and the southern
Imperial Valley
, photo = Salton Sea from Space.jpg
, photo_caption = The Imperial Valley below the Salton Sea. The US-Mexican border runs diagonally across the lower left of the image.
, map_image = Newriverwatershed-1-.jpg
, map_caption = Map of Imperial ...
, including
El Centro, California
El Centro (Spanish for "The Center") is a city and county seat of Imperial County, California, United States. El Centro is the largest city in the Imperial Valley, the east anchor of the Southern California Border Region, and the core urban ar ...
, and the
Colorado River
The Colorado River ( es, RÃo Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...
cities of
San Luis RÃo Colorado
San Luis RÃo Colorado is a city and also the name of its surrounding municipality in the state of Sonora, Mexico. In the 2020 census, the city had a population of 176,685. The city is the fourth-largest community in the state, and the municip ...
,
Sonora
Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is d ...
and
Yuma, Arizona
Yuma ( coc, Yuum) is a city in and the county seat of Yuma County, Arizona, United States. The city's population was 93,064 at the 2010 census, up from the 2000 census population of 77,515.
Yuma is the principal city of the Yuma, Arizona, M ...
. The station is also carried on the cable television systems of each of the four principal communities it serves.
Taking to air in October 1998, the station is owned by
Intermedia de Mexicali, a subsidiary of the
Ciudad Juárez
Ciudad Juárez ( ; ''Juarez City''. ) is the most populous city in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. It is commonly referred to as Juárez and was known as El Paso del Norte (''The Pass of the North'') until 1888. Juárez is the seat of the Juà ...
-based
Grupo Intermedia Grupo Intermedia, S.A de C.V. is a Mexico (country), Mexican television company, located in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua (state), Chihuahua, Mexico.
Intermedia was founded in 1980 by Arnoldo Cabada de la O, XHIJ-TV's founder and company owner.
Owned ...
and is licensed to its president, Arnoldo Cabada de la O.
Digital channels
The station's digital signal is
multiplexed:
Analog shutdown
Under Mexican law, XHILA would have been required to turn off its analog signal on November 26, 2013 (a date that has since been postponed), but XHILA opted to switch early, seeking and winning approval from
Cofetel to shut down early.
On March 6, 2013 at 11:30 p.m., XHILA turned off its analog signal. It was the first television station in Mexicali to do so and the second in Mexico, after
XHUNAM-TDT
XHUNAM-TDT is a low-power digital television station operating on channel 20 in Mexico City, owned by and broadcasting from the campus of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
History
XHUNAM began broadcasts on analog channel 60 o ...
went digital-only in 2005.
In March 2018, in order to facilitate the repacking of TV services out of the 600 MHz band (channels 38-51), XHILA was assigned channel 20 for continued digital operations, however, the station did not perform the repack until November 27, making it the last station in Mexicali to do so after
XHBC-TDT,
XHMEX-TDT and
XHMEE-TDT repacked in July 2017.
History
XHILA-TV began with experimental broadcasts in 1997, then began broadcasting commercially in October 1998. It has been owned since its inception by Intermedia de Mexicali, airing independent programming during the day, and (originally) news from
CNI at night.
In 2008, XHILA became affiliated with Mexico's newest broadcast network,
cadenatres.
US translators
Broadcast Group, Ltd., an American company which is controlled by the Cabada family, owns two translators in the United States that relay XHILA.
In Yuma, the analog translator was low-powered K28FM. At various times in its history, it was affiliated with musical networks such as Más Música and
MTV Tr3s
MTV Tres (taken from the Spanish word for the number three ''tres'', stylized as tr3s, with an acute accent over the '3') is an American owned by Paramount Media Networks, a subsidiary of Paramount Global.
The channel is targeted toward bilingu ...
, and at others it rebroadcast XHILA. K28FM, in effect, was the first American affiliate of cadenatres as it relayed XHILA when it took on the affiliation in 2008. In the late 2000s, K28FM went silent; in 2015, K33MD-D, a digital translator also owned by Broadcast Group, was put into service.
The license for K28FM was cancelled by the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
on July 19, 2021.
In Calexico, K07ZF channel 7 was the analog translator. Given that the digital transition of XHILA's Mexicali transmitter led to a loss of viewership, channel 7 was promoted as XHILA's analog channel. In 2015, K42KZ-D, also owned by Broadcast Group, was signed on.
Both the Yuma and Calexico transmitters relay XHILA, including all of its subchannels.
K42KZ-D was assigned channel 29 in order to clear the 600 MHz band, and became K29LS-D effective November 3, 2021.
Programming
XHILA-TDT targets both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border. XHILA-TDT provides local information, news shows and variety programs for viewers along with a schedule of movies, comedies and programs of interest.
In 2015, Intermedia signed a contract with the
Sistema Público de Radiodifusión del Estado Mexicano
The ''Sistema Público de Radiodifusión del Estado Mexicano'' (Mexican State Public Broadcasting System, abbreviated SPR) until 2014, is an independent Mexican government agency. Its mission is to support the development of public broadcasting ...
to carry its
Una Voz con Todos network on its stations in Mexicali and Ciudad Juárez. This marks the first time that Mexicali has ever had national public television service.
Newscasts
*Contacto Matutino – Weekdays 6AM - 8:30AM
*Contacto Vespertino – Weekdays 6PM - 7PM
*Contacto Nocturno – Weeknights 9:00PM – 10:00PM
*Con Sentido – Weeknights 10:00PM – 11:25PM
References
External links
Station website*
*
{{English Mexico
Mass media in Mexicali
Television channels and stations established in 1997
Television stations in Baja California
Independent television stations in Mexico