Las Estrellas

History

Las Estrellas originated from XEW-TV, which began broadcasting on 11 March 1951. The channel was a sister station to the legendary XEW-AM radio station, owned by Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta, which was also the owner of the newly launched channel. It was the second commercial TV channel to be established in Mexico City, after XHTV channel 4, owned by the Novedades newspaper. XEW-TV's first transmission was a live, play-by-play, outside broadcast of a Mexican League match, with XEW radio veteran Pedro Septién on commentary duties. Other than live sports broadcasts, XEW-TV initially broadcast films from the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, as its studios in Chapultepec 18 were still under construction. The studio complex, known as Televicentro, would be inaugurated in January 1952. Soon thereafter, the programming scope would be expanded to include live variety shows and television theatre showcases, in a style similar to XEW radio's similarly formatted shows.

XEW-TV would be a pioneer in Mexican television, and would establish many industry firsts. In 1962, the channel would become the flagship network of the newly merged Telesistema Mexicano, which also brought XHTV and XHGC under Azcárraga's hands, and, after merging with XHTM-TV and Televisión Independiente de México, many of these stations' programs would move to XEW-TV. As a result, XEW-TV rapidly grew and became the country's most watched TV network, a position which was undisputed for many years, as Televisa held a monopoly on commercial TV in Mexico, which even went into heavily influencing the political landscape in the country. As a result, by 1985, and in preparation for the 1986 FIFA World Cup (in which Televisa was the host broadcaster), XEW-TV was renamed El Canal de las Estrellas, in reference to the station's line-up of actors, comedians and presenters. This was further reinforced with the launch of an image campaign song, sung by Lucía Méndez, in 1988.

After the death of Emilio Azcárraga Milmo in 1997, El Canal de las Estrellas suffered a massive restructuring of its programming. The biggest moment of the restructuring came in 1998, when 24 Horas, the Jacobo Zabludovsky-anchored newscast, long a propaganda mouthpiece of the Mexican political regime, was canceled. The station's brand identity was also replaced with a new logo created by Pablo Rovalo. After a period of ratings turmoil, viewership stabilized, but the channel had to contend now with a surgent XHDF, freshly privatized and bought under the auspicies of TV Azteca.

After years of decline, particularly after 2012, as accusations of political bias in favor of then-President Enrique Peña Nieto began to hamper the broadcaster's credibility, in 2016, the decision was made to relaunch entirely the station's branding and programming. On 22 August 2016, XEW-TV was renamed as Las Estrellas, and introduced many changes to its programming schedule, including shorter and snappier telenovelas and news programming, as well as dropping many long-running programming in favour of programming oriented to a younger audience. The changes generated a big ratings decline; as a result, by 2017, much of the new programming was canceled and the prime time telenovelas and news programming were relocated to pre-relaunch timeslots and viewership stabilized, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Las Estrellas Internacional

Las Estrellas is available as a pay television network in Europe and Australia as Las Estrellas Europa and Las Estrellas Latinoamérica in Central and South America through Televisa Networks. Both feeds differ from the Las Estrellas programming, usually broadcasting shows weeks behind their original broadcast.

The European feed was known as Galavisión until 2005 and started broadcasting in late 1988. On October 15, 2005, the channel adopted El Canal de las Estrellas, as Galavisión was associated to old movies, outdated telenovelas and sports events broadcast with delay. The rebrand enabled the channel to get up-to-date with the Latin American feed. In January 2025, satellite distribution of the feed changed from Eutelsat 9B to Intelsat 35e.

In Canada, XEW-TDT and the Las Estrellas schedule is available in full on Western Canada Rogers Cable (limited to the Greater Toronto Area) and Bell Fibe TV as an eligible foreign service.

Network logos

File:XEW TV Canal 2 1950 logo.PNG|1951 logo File:XEW 1952.png|1952 logo File:Canal 2 1970s logo.svg|1968 logo File:El Canal de las Estrellas 1980s logo.PNG|1988 logo File:El Canal de las Estrellas 1993.png|1993 logo File:Canal de las Estrellas 1997-2007.svg|1997 logo File:Canal de las Estrellas logo.svg|2007 logo File:XEW-TV2014.png|2014 logo File:Las Estrellas.svg|2016 logo

Programming

Main article: List of programs broadcast by TelevisaUnivision networks, List of TelevisaUnivision telenovelas

Weekday programming in the afternoon and prime time consists of telenovelas. Las Estrellas airs sports programming and sports specials like the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup. Morning and afternoon programming consists of news, sports, talk shows, and variety shows. Night time programming is filled with a news program and Univision-produced shows. Examples of shows produced by Las Estrellas are Recuerda y Gana, Hoy, El Juego de las Estrellas, and Cuéntamelo ya. The network also produces and airs the Premios TVyNovelas, sponsored by the Televisa-owned magazine of the same name and considered the highest honor in the domestic Mexican television industry.

Repeaters

The following is a list of all full-time Las Estrellas repeaters:

References

References

1. [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/univision-books-more-televisa-original-189935 Hollywood Reporter: Univision books more Televisa Original Content]. ''hollywoodreporter.com''.
2. "Ponchivisión salió del aire por mutuo acuerdo: Televisa". [[La Jornada (newspaper).
3. TIM, Televisa. "El Canal de las Estrellas es ahora... Las Estrellas".
4. "Crisis de rating en Televisa provoca salida de 'Esta Noche con Arath".
5. "Crisis de ratings en noticieros y telenovelas de Televisa acelera cambios en contenidos y programación".
6. "López Dóriga, Brozo, Adela Micha… Recortes y cancelaciones, el "segundo gran cambio" de Televisa – Amedi".
7. (6 September 2020). "Más audiencia: la pandemia reanima a las telenovelas mexicanas {{!}} Gente {{!}} Entretenimiento {{!}} El Universo".
8. link. (29 September 2011)
9. link. (29 September 2011)
10. (5 October 1988). "La cadena mexicana Televisa emitirá próximamente, vía satélite, para España".
11. (16 October 2005). "Galavisión cambia nombre en Europa". [[El Universal (Mexico City).
12. (9 January 2025). "El cese de Las Estrellas en Movistar puede deberse al cambio de satélite". satcesc.com.
13. [https://rpc.ift.org.mx/vrpc/pdfs/081015-EQ_COMPLEMENTARIO-011178.pdf RPC: Shadow XHSJT Cabo San Lucas]
14. [https://rpc.ift.org.mx/vrpc/pdfs/020915-FREC-ADICIONAL-010531.pdf RPC: Authorization for XHCDC-TDT]
15. [https://rpc.ift.org.mx/vrpc/pdfs/051015-EQ_COMPLEMENTARIO-011202.pdf RPC: Shadow XHWVT Arriaga, Chis.]
16. [https://rpc.ift.org.mx/vrpc/pdfs/131015-EQ_COMPLEMENTARIO-010933.pdf RPC: Shadow XHCHZ Cd. Cuauhtémoc]
17. [https://rpc.ift.org.mx/vrpc/pdfs/150415-CAMBIO-FREC-009674.pdf RPC: Change in Frequency XHO-TDT, from 46 to 20]
18. [https://rpc.ift.org.mx/vrpc/pdfs/081015-EQ_COMPLEMENTARIO-010746.pdf RPC: Shadow XHBZ Manzanillo]{{dead link. (December 2017)
19. [https://rpc.ift.org.mx/vrpc/pdfs/300915-EQ_COMPLEMENTARIO-011197.pdf RPC: Shadow XHBZ Cd. Guzmán]
20. [https://rpc.ift.org.mx/vrpc/pdfs/030815-EQ_COMPLEMENTARIO-010304.pdf RPC: Shadow XHLGT-TDT Guanajuato]
21. [https://rpc.ift.org.mx/vrpc/pdfs/081015-EQ_COMPLEMENTARIO-011175.pdf RPC: Shadow XHTM Tejupilco]
22. [https://rpc.ift.org.mx/vrpc/pdfs/081015-EQ_COMPLEMENTARIO-011173.pdf RPC: Shadow XHTM Taxco]
23. [https://rpc.ift.org.mx/vrpc/pdfs/091015-EQ_COMPLEMENTARIO-011198.pdf RPC: Shadow XHTM Pachuca]
24. [https://rpc.ift.org.mx/vrpc/pdfs/250215-EQ_COMPLEMENTARIO-009573.pdf RPC: Shadow XHTM Cuernavaca]
25. [https://rpc.ift.org.mx/vrpc/pdfs/081015-EQ_COMPLEMENTARIO-011177.pdf RPC: Shadow XHTM San Martín Texmelucan]
26. [https://rpc.ift.org.mx/vrpc/pdfs/051015-EQ_COMPLEMENTARIO-011199.pdf RPC: Shadow XHTM Tlaxcala]
27. [https://rpc.ift.org.mx/vrpc/pdfs/160615-EQ_COMPLEMENTARIO-009997.pdf RPC: Shadow XHX]
28. [https://rpc.ift.org.mx/vrpc/pdfs/071015-EQ_COMPLEMENTARIO-011189.pdf RPC: Shadow XHHLO Tehuacán, Pue.]
29. [https://rpc.ift.org.mx/vrpc/pdfs/081015-EQ_COMPLEMENTARIO-011319.pdf RPC: Shadow XHCCN Playa del Carmen]
30. [https://rpc.ift.org.mx/vrpc/pdfs/260515-EQ_COMPLEMENTARIO-009891.pdf RPC: XHBS-TDT, Ciudad Obregón, Sonora]
31. [https://rpc.ift.org.mx/vrpc/pdfs/081015-EQ_COMPLEMENTARIO-011169.pdf RPC: Shadow XHTET Palenque, Chis.]
32. [https://rpc.ift.org.mx/vrpc/pdfs/081015-EQ_COMPLEMENTARIO-011168.pdf RPC: Shadow XHAH Nogales]
33. [https://rpc.ift.org.mx/vrpc/pdfs/081015-EQ_COMPLEMENTARIO-011185.pdf RPC: Shadow XHAH Orizaba]{{dead link. (December 2017)
34. [https://rpc.ift.org.mx/vrpc/pdfs/281215-EQ_COMPLEMENTARIO-011493.pdf RPC: Shadow XHVTT Tizimín, Yuc.]
35. [https://rpc.ift.org.mx/vrpc/pdfs/301215-EQ_COMPLEMENTARIO-011483.pdf RPC: Shadow XHTLZ Calvillo – RF 24]
36. [https://rpc.ift.org.mx/vrpc/pdfs/151015-EQ_COMPLEMENTARIO-010931.pdf RPC: Shadow XHBD Aguascalientes]