The development of television in Mexico

The development of television in Mexico raises two fundamental questions. The first issue stems from the monopolistic character of Mexican television, whereby one corporation has dominated commercial broadcasting since its inception in 1955. This company, currently named Televisa, has held its grasp of Mexico's television audience for over 40 years, as estimates in 1995 put Televisa's average audience share at approximately 80 percent. Second, in light of Televisa's powerful position, television in Mexico generates several thorny issues regarding its cultural impacts and political influence. Although the federal government directly supported broadcasting stations and programming, the state never has seriously challenged the commercial television industry.

To a large extent, this pattern in the development of Mexican television reflects the relationship between the state and the private broadcasting industry. The origins of this relationship derive from commercial radio. By the early 1940s, Mexican radio was virtually controlled by Emilio Azcarraga Vidaurreta. At that time, Azcarraga's network encompassed about 60 percent of Mexico's radio stations, and it dominated all of the country's major radio markets. His grip of Mexican radio allowed Azcarraga to spin off into other enterprises, such as recordings, entertainment promotion, film distribution, and eventually motion picture production. Azcarraga's ascendancy in radio was facilitated by his ability to attract Mexico's leading singers, actors, musicians, and comedians to appear in his radio shows. In brief, Azcarraga's hugely profitable radio empire provided him a powerful place in Mexican society, and his hand in the formation of the country's popular culture was similarly important.

Azcarraga's dominance over radio was facilitated by his ties to the two major broadcasting companies in the United States at that time, NBC (the National Broadcasting Company, owned by the Radio Corporation of America, or RCA) and CBS (the Columbia Broadcasting System). Because of his close association with these American broadcasting companies, notably RCA, Azcarraga was well-aware of the new medium called television even before 1940. World War II had delayed television's commercial applications, but the end of the war led immediately to its commercial development in the United States. Azcarraga followed suit; he petitioned President Manuel Avila Camacho ( 1940-46) at the close of his administration for a commercial television broadcasting license (others also petitioned for licenses in this period). Despite the obvious capacity of Azcarraga to move into television broadcasting, the Avila Camacho administration rejected the petition, largely it seems, owing to the influence of the president-elect, Miguel Alemán Valdés. The evidence clearly suggests that Alemán intended to thwart Azcarraga's bid to extend his media empire through the new medium. The evidence also suggests, however, that Alemán desired to profit from the commercialization of Mexican television.