is the largest
Media company in the
Spanish -speaking world, and a major player in the international entertainment business.
It was founded in (founded in
1950 ),
XEW-TV (
1951 ) and
XHGC (
1952 ). It was owned by the Azcarraga family, who had signed on Mexico's first radio station,
XEW-AM , in
1930 . In
1973 , it merged with (TIM, formed in
1968 ) to form '''Televisión Vía Satélite, S. A.''', which was quickly shortened to Televisa.
Grupo Televisa has interests in television production and broadcasting, programming for pay television, international distribution of television programming, direct-to-home satellite services, publishing and publishing distribution,
Cable Television ,
Radio production and broadcasting, professional sports and show business promotions, paging services,
Feature Film production and distribution, dubbing, and the operation of a horizontal
Internet portal. Televisa's soap operas generally run only one season each and are broadcast internationally.
Grupo Televisa is listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange,
Bolsa Mexicana De Valores ) () and the
New York Stock Exchange ().
Grupo Televisa also has an unconsolidated equity stake in
Univisión , the leading Spanish-language television company in the
United States . Televisa's main competition is
TV Azteca which already has a television network in the US (though jointly-owned by an American broadcaster).
Televisa has an ongoing relation with the US
Univision network, stemming back to the 1960s, when Univision's predecessor, the Spanish International Network (SIN), was owned by
Telesistema Mexicano , Televisa's predecessor. It was forced to sell off SIN in 1986, due to FCC regulations regarding foreign ownership of US television stations.
Nevertheless, Televisa has been a longtime provider of programming to Univision and its sister networks.
However, in recent years, Televisa's relationship with Univision has become strained. It was involved in a dispute with Univisión over the
Censoring and editing of its programming as well as non-payment for transmission of its programming to Univisión's
Galavisión and
Telefutura networks. In one editing incident, an episode of ''HOY'' was not shown on Galavisión due to a host appearing in
Blackface . A
Breach Of Contract lawsuit against Univisión by Televisa has also been filed.
Now that Univisión is up for sale, a group including Televisa has been inquiring about taking an up to 25% ownership stake (the maximum allowed by US law for a foreign buyer).
Televisa was also the former owner of
Fonovisa music, which it sold in 2001 to Univision.
