Multimedios Televisión

Multimedios owns and operates most of its Mexican stations by way of two concessionaires, Multimedios Televisión and Televisión Digital. After operating in Monterrey alone for more than 20 years over XHAW-TV, Multimedios began its expansion in earnest in the late 1980s and early 1990s, building a rebroadcaster in Saltillo and new stations in northeast Mexico and in León, Guanajuato. It further increased its broadcast reach with affiliate stations in the northeast. In the Monterrey area, Multimedios also owns and operates a second TV station, XHSAW-TDT.

Multimedios participated in the IFT-6 television auction of 2017 and won six stations, including transmitters in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Puebla. The Mexico City station began broadcasting Milenio TV and Teleritmo on July 4, 2018. XHMTCO-TDT in Monclova, Coahuila, signed on July 7, 2018, and XHMTDU-TDT in Durango entered program service on August 6. XHTDMX-TDT began limited program service on August 14, 2018, and began a full schedule of programming originating from both Monterrey and Mexico City beginning August 27. The transmitter for XHTDJA was turned on September 13. However, it would be nearly another year before the last IFT-6 station went on the air, with the Puebla transmitter announced for an August 26, 2019 start-up date.[1]

In 2019, two stations in the state of Chihuahua became Multimedios affiliates, XHAUC-TDT in Chihuahua and XHMH-TDT in Hidalgo del Parral.

The Multimedios network formerly used virtual channel 12 (XHAW's channel number from its 1968 launch), from the national standardization of virtual channels on October 27, 2016 until the change to 6 on February 24, 2018. This mapping was not exclusive throughout Mexico, as Hidalgo's state network Radio y Televisión de Hidalgo and six local stations elsewhere are also mapped to channel 12.[5] On February 24, 2018 (timed to XHAW-TDT's 50th anniversary celebration of going on the air on that date), Multimedios changed the virtual channel of all of its owned and operated stations to channel 6.[6] Towards the end of April 2018, Multimedios began to utilize a secondary black and yellow "6" logo to remind viewers of its new national channel position, though its trademark star logo (which was simplified and took a mirrored look from its former logo in mid-2015) will remain in wide use. "Canal Seis" has also become an alternate branding for the network.

In mid-March 2020, much of the network's daily live entertainment programming outside of news and sports programming and the newly launched Mexico City-based afternoon gossip program Chismorreo was temporarily and voluntarily suspended due to the nation's coronavirus pandemic, which included a network campaign encouraging viewers to stay home; much of the entertainment programming eventually returned, though with only a few in-studio hosts practicing proper social distancing who coordinate the rest of their casts appearing via videotelephony, and a number of programs temporarily changing their time slots to accommodate expanded news programming (a reality competition involving expectant parents competing for prizes, Todo por el parto, was completely suspended, with a finale to be filmed and aired when it is safe to do so). Several of the network's news anchors and reporters have also chosen to appear from home via video conferencing and self-isolate.

The network is also available nationwide through providers such as SKY México/VeTV and Izzi/Cablevisión.

All American affiliates of the network are owned and operated by other broadcasters, due to FCC regulations regarding foreign ownership of radio and TV stations. The network leased stations from Mako Communications until early 2007.

The American version of the network feed features American direct response advertising and public service announcements laid over the main Monterrey feed, along with some programming substitutions (mainly Monterrey-specific local shows and paid programming for second runs of the network's main shows), along with KHLM-LD's Houston-focused public affairs program ¿Que Pasa Houston? on Sunday afternoons. The main Monterrey feed is available to Mexican viewers, streaming through the network's website and its iOS App Store and Google Play apps, with all network feeds blocked in the United States in deference to its American cable partners.

As of late August 2018, the American network features mainly the XHAW-TDT schedule of entertainment programming from Monterrey, but the noon and primetime Telediario blocks are now split, with the first hour originating from XHTDMX-TDT's Mexico City broadcast, and the second hour being the Monterrey broadcast, with the morning newscast block switching in and out from both the Monterrey and Mexico City editions. Futbol al Dia and Multimedios Deportes now also split between the Monterrey and Mexico City editions, and overnights feature a special American edition newscast from Milenio Television. As of September 2020 with the cancellation of the tween-focused variety show Acabatelo, Mexico City programming, including La Bola del Seis and La caja de pandora airs live on the American feed in the late morning and afternoon, while the Monterrey-based Vivalavi airs on tape delay in late afternoons, overlaying the network's archived programming output from the domestic version of Discovery Home & Health.

The network is authorized to be carried as a foreign television service in Canada by that country's broadcasting authority, receiving that authorization on April 22, 2015; Milenio Television was also included in a separate application.[7]

Multimedios is available across the United States on many cable, satellite and IPTV systems, including DirecTV, Dish/Sling, Comcast, Spectrum, AT&T U-Verse, Verizon FiOS and Grande Communications. It is carried in both standard definition and high definition versions. In 2016, the network also became available in Costa Rica (the third largest Mexican diaspora behind the United States and Guatemala) through cable (several of the network's personalities are Costa Rican-Mexicans); the American and Costa Rican feeds, along with the local "Plus" feed thus had a separate version of their morning lifestyle program, Vivalavi, known as Vivalavi Internacional with different hosts carried over them. Vivalavi Internacional was cancelled on January 11, 2017. Vivalavi began to feature segments from Monterrey and Mexico City in mid-August 2018, and the Thursday evening program SNSerio often has their hosts record the series in Mexico City to access a larger base for possible program guests than available in Monterrey.

In addition to this, the audio streams of Multimedios, Milenio TV and Multimedios' sports radio station XERG-AM are available via telephone through a both a Mexican and American telephone number for the regular costs of airtime depending on provider.