History
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 from the Venezuelan Family Cisneros, 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.
In 1968, Telesistema's main competitor, Televisión Independiente de México (TIM), started operating with XHTIM-TV and Canal 8. At the time, both Telesistema and TIM competed with XHAW-TV, local Canal 12, which also started transmissions in 1968. Over the next four years, both networks competed in content and image until September 17, 1972, when they merged, taking on the name Televisa, an acronym for Television Via Satellite in Spanish. 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, legendary 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 the chain's owner.
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 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (National Autonomous University of Mexico) (UNAM) in 1977. On March 3, 1983, Canal 8 changed their schedule to become a cultural channel, offering informative programs, debates and cultural shows, a precursor to today's Galavisión. On May 18, 1985 the frequency was changed to XEQ-TV, Canal 9.
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.
In 1991, Televisa, with help from Japanese television network NHK, 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.
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