Television channel
 | |
| Country | Mexico |
|---|---|
| Programming | |
| Picture format | 480i SDTV |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | TV Azteca |
| Sister channels | |
| History | |
| Launched | 20 March 2017; 7 years ago (2017-03-20) |
| Links | |
| Website | www |
| Availability | |
| Terrestrial | |
| 54 Azteca 7 transmitters | |
A Más (originally "a+" from 2017 to 2021) (stylized: a más+) is a national television network in Mexico operated by TV Azteca. It launched in five cities on 20 March 2017, and it expanded to 34 additional cities on April 7, 2017.
A Más is broadcast as the second digital subchannel (usually 7.2) of the Azteca 7 transmitters in each area. It was originally launched to provide increased regional programming.
History
Regional programming on TV Azteca prior to a+
From the privatization of Imevisión in 1993, the new Televisión Azteca immediately began seeking alliances with content partners to provide local and regional news and programming for air on its networks. In 1995, TV Azteca took on Síntesis, a successful local newscast in Tijuana, as a partner after Síntesis had been forced off of its previous broadcast home. In the state of Veracruz, it set up Veravisión, and it also established local news and programming operations in other cities including Mérida and San Luis Potosí. While many of these produced few programs outside of local news and were later subsumed into TV Azteca itself, Azteca Noreste, the division in Monterrey, remained a high-volume program producer, airing local Info 7 newscasts seven days a week in the morning and early afternoon as well as locally produced entertainment and sports shows.
Launch of a+
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a+ was announced on March 13, 2017, coinciding with the relaunch of Proyecto 40 as adn40 that same day. On March 8, the Federal Telecommunications Institute approved the change in program identity, as well as multiplexing of additional transmitters to provide the a+ service.
The service began operation in five cities—Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara, Toluca and León—while expansion to 21 additional cities was initially planned by the end of the second quarter of 2017 and a third expansion phase slated for the second half of the year, 35 transmitters serving 34 cities were authorized for the service on March 22, 2017, with programs beginning on April 7, 2017; in August 2017, TV Azteca was further cleared to add a+ to 11 Azteca 7 transmitters, mainly in northeastern Mexico. The goal of the channel is to be a national service with programming tailored to the viewing preferences and needs of each local area. Programming for the a+ channels was developed in consultation with local businessmen and influencers in each area, through focus groups headed by Ninfa Salinas, sister of TV Azteca director general Benjamín Salinas.
Efrén Páez, an economic analyst with Mediatelecom, told Expansión that "although there have always been local stations, public and private, none of them have had the capital and resources of TV Azteca".
On December 13, 2017, the IFT deemed that with coverage of 60% of the population of Mexico, carriage of a+ should be made mandatory for satellite providers.
2021 relaunch
The network relaunched and changed its name from a+ to A Más, in part because of its increased national-level identity.
Programming
a+ initially featured a program schedule including a mix of national and regional programs. The base national program schedule that is "100% blockable" for locally produced programs in the different cities where it is broadcast. All a+ areas at launched offer a 9pm local newscast and 10pm local sports program. Depending on the size of the city, local production would vary across the different a+ channels.
a+ also carries non-local programs, such as music videos from Exa TV and cartoons from Mondo TV, as well as rebroadcasts of some of TV Azteca's more popular shows, including Venga la alegría and Ventaneando. This content became the primary focus of the channel as early as 2018.
Transmitters
See also: Azteca 7 § Transmittersa+ is available on 54 transmitters. In each of them, it is available as the second subchannel (usually 7.2) of the Azteca 7 transmitter. In Tijuana, Mexicali and Ciudad Juárez, Azteca 7 does not have virtual channel 7 and so it is carried as virtual channel 20.2, 21.2 and 20.2, respectively.
Notes
- XHCCG's primary transmitter is located in Celaya, but the production center is in León.
- XHCPE's transmitter is on Cofre de Perote, but TV Azteca's production center is in the port of Veracruz.
References
- Dibble, Sandra (10 April 1995). "Tijuana news team rejoices in return to TV". San Diego Union-Tribune.
- "REGIONALIZACION DE TV AZTECA". Proceso. 8 October 1995. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
- ^ Villamil, Jenaro (13 March 2017). "TV Azteca relanza dos canales de televisión: Adn40 y A+". Proceso. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
- Azteca Noreste program schedule Archived 2017-03-15 at the Wayback Machine, March 2017
- ^ "BMV: Evento Relevante: "TV AZTECA CONTINUA CON SU SOLIDA REINVENCIÓN; PONE EN MARCHA DOS NUEVOS CANALES DE TELEVISIÓN", March 13, 2017" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 August 2017. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
- ^ Bello, Alberto; Corona, Liliana (14 March 2017). "TV Azteca fortalece su programación y usará el canal 7.2 para contenidos locales". Expansión. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
- "ACUERDO mediante el cual el Pleno del Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones actualiza las señales radiodifundidas con cobertura de 50% o más del territorio nacional en términos de los Lineamientos Generales en relación con lo dispuesto por la fracción I del artículo Octavo Transitorio del Decreto por el que se reforman y adicionan diversas disposiciones de los artículos 6o., 7o., 27, 28, 73, 78, 94 y 105 de la Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, en materia de telecomunicaciones". Diario Oficial de la Federación. 20 December 2017.
- ^ "Canal 7.2 de TV Azteca estrena imagen y cambia su nombre". PRODU (in Spanish). 23 March 2021. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
- IFT: Multiprogramming Authorization – XHIMT-TDT (change from Azteca Noticias)
- IFT: Multiprogramming Authorization (other launch a+ stations)
- IFT: Multiprogramming Authorization (35 additional stations)
- IFT: Multiprogramming Authorization August 2017 (11 additional stations)
- IFT: Conversion of XHRAM, XHBUR and XHPHG 7.2 to A+ from ADN40
- Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones. Infraestructura de Estaciones de TDT. Last modified 2018-05-16. Retrieved 2017-03-26. Technical information from the IFT Coverage Viewer.
 Broadcast television networks in Mexico | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TelevisaUnivision | |||||||
| TV Azteca | |||||||
| Grupo Imagen | |||||||
| Grupo Multimedios |
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| MVS Comunicaciones | |||||||
| Public and educational |
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| See also list of television stations in Mexico and list of Mexican television networks. | |||||||