XEX-TDT

XEX-TDT is a television station licensed to and broadcasting from Altzomoni, State of Mexico, on virtual channel 5. It was initially set up in 1951 as a relayer of XHTV before joining Canal 5 likely in the early 70s. The station from 1987 to 1995 also aired a separate network known as TV Matutina, later renamed Supercadena 8, to fill airtime that was reserved in Mexico City by educational television.

XEX-TDT

Altzomoni, State of Mexico Puebla, Puebla Mexico
Channels	Digital: 14 (UHF) Virtual: 5
Branding	Canal 5
Programming
Affiliations	Canal 5
Ownership
Owner	Grupo Televisa (Radio Televisión, S.A. de C.V.)
History
First air date	1955 (1955)
Former call signs	XEX-TV (1955-2015)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 7 (VHF, 1951-85) 8 (VHF, 1985-2015)
Call sign meaning	Derived from XEW
Technical information
Licensing authority	IFT
ERP	(Altzomoni) 236 kW[1]
Transmitter coordinates	19°07′10″N 98°39′13″W
Links
Website

XEX, along with Canal 5 transmitter XHTM, serves one of Mexico's largest television service areas with a string of transmitters stretching from Taxco de Alarcón, Guerrero, to Tlaxcala, Tlaxcala, including transmitters in Pachuca, Hidalgo, Cuernavaca, Morelos and San Martín Texmelucan, Puebla. XEX and XHTM's digital transmitter was initially located at Televisa's Puebla transmitter site along with the digital operations of its Altzomoni sister stations and both analog and digital signals of Televisa's Puebla independent XHP-TV; in 2015, final digital facilities were built on Altzomoni, coinciding with a power increase from 45 kW to 236.

History

XEX was, alongside stations like XEQ-TV, the ill-fated XELD-TV and the cross-border XETV, among the first television stations to be set up outside of Mexico City. Before establishing a television station, XEX was owned by Rómulo O'Farrill, who was the founder of XHTV (channel 4) in the capital, the first television station to commence regular operations in Mexico, in 1950.^[2] Its license was awarded on November 26, 1951,^[3] while regular broadcasts started in 1955 (the same year of the formation of Telesistema Mexicano and broadcast on VHF channel 7, relaying XHTV.^[4] By the time he was hospitalized in 1957, XEX was still one of O'Farrill's television stations.^[5] It is unknown when XEX replaced the XETV relay with an XHGC one.

The establishment of XHIMT-TV for Imevisión's new Red Nacional 7 network implied a relocation of the VHF frequencies for Mexico City and Altzomoni. XEQ and XHTM exchanged callsigns, with XHTM (channel 8) moving to channel 9 in Mexico City and taking on the callsign used by XEQ-TV in Puebla. The station moved to channel 10 and adopted the XHTM calls, while XEX's calls remained unchanged, and the station moved from channel 7 (which was to be claimed by XHIMT) to channel 8.^[6]

In 1987, XEX and adjacent relay station XHAJ in Las Lajas, Veracruz, began airing a locally-originated network known as TV Matutina (Morning TV), which, despite its name, ended in the middle of the afternoon. This was possible because XHGC-TV was airing Telesecundaria classes, which were mainly reserved for Mexico City. XEX was also receivable in Mexico City, meaning that Televisa could not broadcast these classes on two transmitters of the same network at the same time, causing the creation of the morning network. Programming included cartoons, telenovelas and movies, as well as reruns of news bulletins from the previous evening. In 1990, this block was renamed Supercadena 8 and added a late night block at 11pm. When Televisa reformatted XEQ from a cultural channel into a commercial outlet with a similar format, the block was replaced by home shopping programming and was completely withdrawn in 1995, after that, the station became a full-time Canal 5 transmitter.^[7]

Digital operations for Televisa's Altzomoni stations—XEX, XHTM and XHATZ—were based in Puebla proper until 2015.^[8]