Azteca 7 (also called El Siete) is a Mexican network owned by TV Azteca, with more than 100 main transmitters all over Mexico. Azteca 7 is available on all cable and satellite systems. Azteca 7 broadcasts entertainment series, movies, and sporting events targeting a general audience, and programs for children during the daytime. In programming, its main national competitor in open television has historically been Canal 5 of

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 ...

History

Imevisión's channel 7

To bring a channel 7 to Mexico City, which had channels 2, 4, 5, 8, 11 and 13, a channel shuffle had to be made. This channel shuffle converted Televisa's station XHTM-TV channel 8 to channel 9. Two Puebla stations, XEX-TV channel 7 and XEQ-TV channel 9, moved to channels 8 and 10; XEQ took on the XHTM callsign that was discontinued in Mexico City. In Toluca, channel 7 ( XHGEM-TV) was moved to channel 12, and XHTOL-TV moved from channel 9 to 10. XHIMT-TV took to the air on May 15, 1985, as the third of three Mexico City stations operated by public broadcaster Imevisión, sister to XHDF-TV channel 13 and XEIMT-TV channel 22, and the flagship station of a second Imevisión national network which featured 99 repeater stations, larger than any commercial network of the time, serving 72% of the population."Aimed At Working Class: Mexico To Get New TV Network." United Press International, May 16, 1985

/ref> The new ''Red Nacional 7'' (7 National Network) was positioned as targeting the working class and rural areas, whose programming would reflect "the national identity", while ''Red Nacional 13'', based from XHDF, targeted a more middle- and upper-class audience. Because the new network lacked its own building, initial operating costs were estimated to be of over US$1 million. Initial programming included educational programs during daytime hours, primetime entertainment and news updates every 30 minutes.

TV Azteca's channel 7

However, financial mismanagement, economic troubles and other issues quickly signaled trouble for Imevisión. The network had become a mere frequency with a limited transmitter farm, with seven hours of its programming on weekdays in 1990 (half of its weekday airtime) was still dedicated to high school educational programming (''Telesecundaria''). There were even talks of Multivisión owner Joaquín Vargas buying the network.Darling, J. (1990, Sep 30). For Sale: Mexican TV Network. Needs Work. Media: Privatizing apace, the government wants to unload a broadcast web. Whether competition results depends on the buyer.: ome Edition Los Angeles Times (Pre-1997 Fulltext) In 1990, XEIMT and XHIMT were converted into relays of XHDF, and the next year, the government of Mexico announced it was selling XHIMT and XHDF to the private sector. The sale of these two networks in 1993 formed the new TV Azteca network. By October 1993, XHIMT was operating independently under Azteca as ''Tú Visión''. The programming of Azteca 7 since then has largely consisted of children's programs, sports, foreign series and movies, serving as a competitor to Televisa's Canal 5.

Programming

Foreign shows aired on Azteca 7 include ''

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

'', '' The Good Doctor'', ''

Malcolm in the Middle ''Malcolm in the Middle'' is an American television sitcom created by Linwood Boomer for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on January 9, 2000, and ended on May 14, 2006, after seven seasons consisting of 151 episodes. The ...

'', ''

Smallville ''Smallville'' is an American superhero fiction, superhero television series developed by writer-producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, based on the DC Comics character Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The series was produce ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', and recently '' Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury''.

Sports

After its privatization, Azteca 7 began carrying NBA basketball, though Televisa now holds these rights. Soccer rights on Azteca 7 include the

Liga MX Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divis ...

, as well as all official and

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

es of the Mexico national soccer team. Azteca 7 also carries NFL games, boxing (''Box Azteca'') and

lucha libre ''Lucha libre'' (, meaning "freestyle wrestling" or literally translated as "free fight") is the term for the style of professional wrestling originating in Mexico. Since its introduction to Mexico in the early 20th century, it has develope ...

(''Lucha Azteca'').

Azteca 7 transmitters

Azteca 7 has 89 full-power transmitters that broadcast its programming; it also is carried, albeit in SD, as a subchannel of 14 additional Azteca Uno transmitters. Except in the border cities of

Tijuana Tijuana is the most populous city of the Mexican state of Baja California, located on the northwestern Pacific Coast of Mexico. Tijuana is the municipal seat of the Tijuana Municipality, the hub of the Tijuana metropolitan area and the most popu ...

Mexicali Mexicali (; ) is the capital city of the States of Mexico, Mexican state of Baja California. The city, which is the seat of the Mexicali Municipality, has a population of 689,775, according to the 2010 census, while the Calexico–Mexicali, Cale ...

and

Ciudad Juárez Ciudad Juárez ( , ; "Juárez City"), commonly referred to as just Juárez (Lipan language, Lipan: ''Tsé Táhú'ayá''), is the most populous city in the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Mexican state of Chihuahua (state), Chihuahua. It was k ...

, Azteca 7 is exclusively mapped to virtual channel 7 nationwide. , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , -

References

External links

Azteca 7 website

TV Azteca website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Azteca 7 Television channels and stations established in 1985 Television networks in Mexico TV Azteca broadcast television networks 1985 establishments in Mexico