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28-530: In 2006, Imagen's parent, Grupo Empresarial Ángeles , acquired XHRAE-TV channel 28 in Mexico City from its previous owner, beleaguered businessman Raúl Aréchiga Espinoza, for US$ 126 million. Imagen already owned radio stations in Mexico City and other major cities nationwide. The next year, GEA relaunched the station as "cadenatres", with the ambition of functioning as Mexico's third broadcast network. Despite this and national basic cable carriage, cadenatres only had

56-490: A Radio Fórmula morning show and formerly worked for Televisa and CNI Canal 40 , hosted the network's flagship late news until 2024, when he was replaced by Nacho Lozano. Francisco Zea hosts the network's morning show, while Crystal Mendívil hosts the afternoon newscast at 2pm replacing Yuriria Sierra. The network also has a three-hour morning magazine program, Sale el Sol , hosted by Luz María Zetina , Mauricio Barcelata , Carlos Arenas and Paulina Mercado . It also has

84-456: A first-division Liga MX team, and various websites. GEA began in the hospital industry when it acquired the failing Hospital Humana in 1986. Today, it owns Grupo Ángeles Servicios de Salud, which owns and operates the Hospital Ángeles hospital system composed of 28 hospital facilities across Mexico, 10 of which are in the Mexico City area. Vázquez Aldir considers the hospitals to be the "jewel in

112-489: A handful of local affiliates. On October 26, 2015, cadenatres was shuttered and replaced with news outlet Excélsior TV as Imagen began preparing to launch its national network. In 2014, the Federal Telecommunications Institute began a bidding process to make available packages of new national television networks. Two packages were available, each containing 123 transmitters. Three bidders continued to

140-645: A more forward-looking moniker as reasons to bypass the Cadena Tres name. The launch makes Imagen the first new national commercial network to begin operations in Mexico since the privatization of Imevisión and resultant creation of Televisión Azteca in 1993. Vázquez Aldir described Imagen's programming approach as "a family channel, with a focus on women". Imagen's first two original telenovelas, produced in collaboration with Argos Comunicación and Estudios TeleMéxico, were Vuelve temprano and Perseguidos . The latter

168-526: A public company until delisting itself from the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores in June 2016. Grupo Financiero Multiva was acquired by GEA in 2006. It operates a bank, brokerage firm, insurance company and investment funds. Radio F%C3%B3rmula Radio Fórmula is a Mexican talk radio network. Founded in 1968, Radio Fórmula programs are broadcast on more than 100 stations in Mexico as well as several stations in

196-440: A sixth for news, and three radio studios. In October 2015, Imagen was approved to relocate all stations planned to be built above channel 36, in order to facilitate the repacking of television spectrum. Several other transmitters changed allocated channels as a result. The first of the launch transmitters to come to air was the Mexico City station, XHCTMX-TDT , which signed on with color bars on August 19, 2016. In late September,

224-445: Is a Mexican corporation owned by Olegario Vázquez Raña and founded in 1998. It owns assets in the communications, healthcare, tourism and financial services industries. Its director general is Olegario Vázquez Aldir . GEA was formally founded in 1998 by Vázquez Raña, though its history dates to 1986 and the acquisition of Hospital Humana (now Hospital Ángeles de Pedregal). GEA has grown rapidly through acquisitions, particularly in

252-760: The 2023 World Baseball Classic and Major League Baseball , replacing TUDN on the latter. Imagen's children's programming block consists of a mix of classic series ( Maya the Honey Bee , Marco and The Swiss Family Robinson: Flone of the Mysterious Island ) and newer programs (formerly Pokémon ). This also formerly included programming from Nickelodeon , thus making Imagen the second station to currently air Nick shows in Mexico aside from Canal 5 . Currently, only Puebla provides local programming on Imagen Televisión. Imagen TV Puebla launched in January 2018, utilizing

280-586: The 2000s and 2010s. 1999 saw it acquire the Camino Real hotel chain, which formed the cornerstone of its tourism and hospitality business. In 2003, it bought Grupo Imagen. 2006 saw the acquisition of Multiva, its financial services unit, and of the Excélsior newspaper and channel 28 in Mexico City , the precursor to its Imagen Televisión national network. In 2014, GEA, through its Grupo Imagen unit, bought Querétaro FC out of government administration. This came after

308-650: The AM stations off the air for nearly a month (the FM stations' transmitters are based at the Torre Latinoamericana ). The network later relocated to the Polanco neighborhood in the west part of the city. Journalist Pedro Ferriz de Con , who hosted a morning newscast on XEDF-AM, barely managed to survive and spent over a year hospitalized, whereas Sergio Rod and Gustavo Calderón, morning hosts of XEAI-AM, perished. In 1987, Radio Formula

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336-558: The Mexico City transmitter, as Excélsior was available over the air on XHTRES-TDT . Additional transmitters were added for Excélsior TV in December 2017. The Chihuahua transmitters had been authorized in June 2018 to carry Canal 16, a television channel to be operated by the Chihuahua state government, as subchannel 3.3; after a delay, this service never began operations. Grupo Empresarial %C3%81ngeles Grupo Empresarial Ángeles (GEA)

364-790: The United States. It is the flagship product of Grupo Fórmula , which also owns the TeleFórmula pay TV network (itself made up of Radio Fórmula video simulcasts ), and PM Onstreet, an outdoor advertising firm. Grupo Formula traces its beginnings to 1968, when several Mexico City stations were split from Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta ’s Radiópolis system. Among these was XEDF-AM 970. By 1984, Radio Fórmula operated five Mexico City stations: 970 AM, 1470 AM , 1500 AM , 103.3 FM and 104.1 FM . On September 19, 1985, Radio Fórmula's headquarters in downtown Mexico City were destroyed by an 8.1 earthquake , which killed several hosts and employees and knocked

392-492: The concession award, all 123 transmitters must be on air. Imagen's CEO, Olegario Vázquez Aldir , also announced a planned investment of 10 billion pesos to build out the network over 36 to 40 months. Some of this investment went into building Ciudad Imagen (Imagen City), a new facility in the Copilco neighborhood of Mexico City with 46,000 square metres (500,000 sq ft) of floor space, five studios for entertainment programs,

420-454: The concession. Radio Centro, whose bid was significantly higher, subsequently ran into financial problems and dropped out, paying only the security deposit; thus, Imagen would be the only new national network created as the result of the bidding process. The concessions held by Imagen bind them to two coverage clauses; they must serve 30 percent of the population in each of the 32 Mexican federative entities by March 2018, and within five years of

448-494: The crown" of the conglomerate. In 1999, GEA acquired Grupo Real Turismo, which operated the Camino Real Hotels chain, for US$ 300 million. GEA repositioned it to focus on the business traveler market. GEA also owns two other hotel concepts: Quinta Real, a luxury hotel system, and Real Inn, a mid-tier hotel catering to business travelers. In total, there are 41 hotels with more than 6,800 rooms. The tourism unit traded as

476-513: The final round: Grupo Imagen, under the name Cadena Tres I, S.A. de C.V.; Grupo Radio Centro ; and Organización Editorial Mexicana (Centro de Información Nacional de Estudios Tepeyac, S.A. de C.V.), which operates the ABC Radio network. OEM dropped out unexpectedly just days before the death of its CEO, Mario Vázquez Raña , paving the way for Cadena Tres I and GRC to be declared the winning bidders on March 11, 2015. Imagen paid 1.808 billion pesos for

504-442: The launch date was announced as Monday, October 17, and Imagen unveiled a new corporate logo designed by Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv , a New York-based graphic design firm, which will also serve as the network's logo. In addition, the name of the network, Imagen Televisión, was formally announced, along with the initial slogan Juntos Somos Libres ; Vázquez Aldir cited the desire to not merely be "the third network" and to have

532-548: The national gross domestic product. The transmitter network has primarily been deployed using preexisting public and commercial infrastructure, notably including towers owned by the Sistema Público de Radiodifusión del Estado Mexicano (SPR), Canal Once , MVS Radio , and several of Imagen's own radio stations. Each callsign represents the primary city listed in the IFT-defined coverage areas, though in several cases, Imagen built

560-472: The previous owner of the team was investigated for bank fraud. Grupo Imagen Multimedia is a media conglomerate consisting of Excélsior , a national-circulation newspaper; Imagen Radio, a national radio network along with other stations; the Imagen Televisión national network, and Excélsior Televisión, a cable news outlet carried over the air on XHTRES-TDT in Mexico City. It also owns Querétaro FC ,

588-508: The resources of AS Media, which had previously produced TV Azteca Puebla local programs. Imagen Televisión, through Cadena Tres I, S.A. de C.V., is currently authorized to operate 49 main stations and 14 repeaters; in 2018, its transmitters covered 61.72 percent of the population in parts of all Mexican states. 38 transmitters were on air at launch, while 42 currently operate. The transmitters launched on air are primarily in state capitals, densely populated cities, and those that contribute most to

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616-447: The transmitter in another, larger city within the coverage area—sometimes in another state. On July 4, 2018, the IFT awarded Imagen TV an 18-month extension of its national coverage obligations. Imagen cited crime problems, negotiations with landowners and municipal permitting processes as factors necessitating the extension. A further extension to the five-year deadline to build out the network

644-453: The two-hour entertainment news program, De Primera Mano , hosted by Gustavo Adolfo Infante , Mónica Noguera and Michelle Ruvalcaba , launched on July 24, 2017. On February 24, 2020, the program, ¡Qué Chulada! , began to air and is hosted by Veronica Toussaint , Marta Guzmán and Mariana H , with Luz María Zetina , Mónica Noguera and Paulina Mercado as co-hosts, being one of the main programs of Imagen Televisión. Javier Alarcón

672-503: Was a Querétaro fixture against Club América on October 22. For the Clausura 2017 tournament, Imagen carried Club León and C.F. Pachuca fixtures as well. One regular sports program airs on Imagen, a Sunday night discussion program titled Adrenalina con Javier Alarcón . In June 2018, Imagen aired a one-hour version of WWE Raw and SmackDown every Saturday afternoon. In 2023, the network acquired exclusive broadcasting rights for

700-473: Was brought in to head Imagen's sports division and was among the first major hires for the network. Imagen held the rights to broadcast two Liga MX soccer clubs, its co-owned Querétaro FC (until 2020) and Jaguares de Chiapas (which would disappear after the 2017 season), though it subleased much of those rights to SKY México as the network was not on air. Both clubs' home matches will generally air on Saturdays at 5pm. The first soccer match to air on Imagen

728-579: Was granted in February 2020. Almost all stations have been allotted virtual channel 3, though one on the border region with the United States—XHCTRM-TDT—is assigned virtual channel 13 because of a potential conflict with KIII in Corpus Christi, Texas , on virtual channel 3. All transmitters carry Excélsior TV , Imagen's cable news channel, as subchannel 3.4. Until 2020, this did not include

756-505: Was originally known as El Capo (The Drug Lord) but was changed, potentially to prevent a reclassification of the program that would have required it to air after midnight. The network also picked up two Brazilian telenovelas, José do Egito (Joseph from Egypt) and A Regra do Jogo (Rules of The Game), and the Colombian novela Lady, la vendedora de rosas . Imagen Televisión features three weekday newscasts. Ciro Gómez Leyva , who hosts

784-540: Was relaunched under the management of Rogerio Azcárraga Madero, nephew of Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta. This led to the establishment of a program schedule that offered a wide range of programs in news, sports, finances, entertainment and women's talk. Among the personalities that have worked for Radio Formula over the years are Jorge Saldaña , Héctor Lechuga , Joaquín López-Dóriga , Maxine Woodside , Paola Rojas and Jorge Zúñiga . In 1994, Radio Fórmula began to expand nationally and created three national networks featuring

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