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XHILA-TDT

Mexicali, Baja California– San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora– El Centro, California– Yuma, Arizona Mexico–United States
City	Mexicali, Baja California
Channels	Digital: 20 (UHF) Virtual: 66
Branding	El Canal de las Noticias (The News Channel)
Programming
Affiliations	66.1: Canal 66 (2015–present) 66.2: Canal Catorce 66.3: 2 hour delay of 66.1 66.4: Milenio Television
Ownership
Owner	Grupo Intermedia (Arnoldo Cabada de la O)
History
Founded	1997
First air date	October 1998 (1998-10)
Former call signs	XHILA-TV (1998–2013)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 66 (UHF, 1998–2013) Digital: 46 (UHF, until 2018)
Former affiliations	CNI (to 2005) cadenatres (until 2015)
Technical information
Licensing authority	IFT
ERP	107.490 kW
Translator(s)	K07ZF/K29LS-D (Calexico, California) K33MD-D (Yuma, Arizona) (owned by Broadcast Group, Ltd.)
Links
Website	www.canal66.tv

XHILA-TDT (channel 66) is a Spanish-language independent television station in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, serving the Mexicali Valley and the southern Imperial Valley, including El Centro, California, and the Colorado River cities of San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora, and Yuma, Arizona. The station is also carried on the cable television systems of each of the four principal communities it serves.

Taking to air in October 1998, the station is owned by Intermedia de Mexicali, a subsidiary of the Ciudad Juárez-based Grupo Intermedia and is licensed to its president, Arnoldo Cabada de la O.

History

XHILA-TV began with experimental broadcasts in 1997, then began broadcasting commercially in October 1998. It has been owned since its inception by Intermedia de Mexicali, airing independent programming during the day, and (originally) news from CNI at night.

From 2008 to 2015, XHILA became affiliated with Mexico's newest broadcast network, cadenatres.

Dismissal of Gustavo Macalpin

On October 7, 2024, Gustavo Macalpin, host of the political satire program Ciudadano 2.0, was fired on air by the channel's director, Luis Arnoldo Cabada Alvídrez. Initially, Macalpin thought Cabada would participate in a sketch. However, Cabada started by thanking Macalpin for his six years in charge of the program, only to later inform him that his time at the company was ending. Macalpin accepted the dismissal and continued working on his final broadcast. Cabada's actions faced negative criticism, and Macalpin described them as intimidating and humiliating. Macalpin had made criticisms of multiple Morena politicians, the ruling party of Mexico, including Marina del Pilar Ávila Olmeda, the governor of Baja California, her husband, Carlos Alberto Torres Torres, as well as Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the president of Mexico from 2018 to 2024, his children, and Claudia Sheinbaum, the incoming president. Ávila expressed her surprise at the news and wished him success in future projects. Sheinbaum commented that the manner of his dismissal was inappropriate if it was due to censorship.

Programming

XHILA-TDT targets both sides of the U.S.–Mexican border. XHILA-TDT provides local information, news shows and variety programs for viewers along with a schedule of movies, comedies and programs of interest.

In 2015, Intermedia signed a contract with the Sistema Público de Radiodifusión del Estado Mexicano to carry its Una Voz con Todos network on its stations in Mexicali and Ciudad Juárez. This marks the first time that Mexicali has ever had national public television service.

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Analog shutdown

Under Mexican law, XHILA would have been required to turn off its analog signal on November 26, 2013 (a date that has since been postponed), but XHILA opted to switch early, seeking and winning approval from Cofetel to shut down early.

On March 6, 2013 at 11:30 p.m., XHILA turned off its analog signal. It was the first television station in Mexicali to do so and the second in Mexico, after XHUNAM-TDT went digital-only in 2005.

In March 2018, in order to facilitate the repacking of TV services out of the 600 MHz band (channels 38-51), XHILA was assigned channel 20 for continued digital operations, however, the station did not perform the repack until November 27, making it the last station in Mexicali to do so after XHBC-TDT, XHMEX-TDT and XHMEE-TDT repacked in July 2017.

U.S. translators

Broadcast Group, Ltd., an American company which is controlled by the Cabada family, owns two translators in the United States that relay XHILA.

In Yuma, the analog translator was low-powered K28FM. At various times in its history, it was affiliated with musical networks such as Más Música and MTV Tr3s, and at others it rebroadcast XHILA. K28FM, in effect, was the first American affiliate of cadenatres as it relayed XHILA when it took on the affiliation in 2008. In the late 2000s, K28FM went silent; in 2015, K33MD-D, a digital translator also owned by Broadcast Group, was put into service. The license for K28FM was cancelled by the Federal Communications Commission on July 19, 2021.

In Calexico, K07ZF channel 7 was the analog translator. Given that the digital transition of XHILA's Mexicali transmitter led to a loss of viewership, channel 7 was promoted as XHILA's analog channel. In 2015, K42KZ-D, also owned by Broadcast Group, was signed on.

Both the Yuma and Calexico transmitters relay XHILA, including all of its subchannels.

K42KZ-D was assigned channel 29 in order to clear the 600 MHz band, and became K29LS-D effective November 3, 2021.

References

1. Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones. Listado de Canales Virtuales. Last modified December 21, 2021. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
2. Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones. Infraestructura de Estaciones de TDT. Last modified 2018-05-16. Retrieved 2014-07-02. Technical information from the IFT Coverage Viewer.
3. "Corporativo". Canal66.com.mx. Archived from the original on February 21, 2013. Retrieved 2007-09-21.
4. Morán Breña, Carmen (8 October 2024). "'Este es tu último día': despedido en directo un periodista de Canal 66 en Mexicali" ['This is your last day': a journalist from Canal 66 in Mexicali is fired live on air]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 19 October 2024.
5. "Director del Canal 66 justifica despido en vivo de Gustavo Macalpin; 'buscaba humillar', declara el conductor" [Director of Channel 66 justifies the live firing of Gustavo Macalpin; 'He aimed to humiliate', declares the host]. El Universal (in Spanish). Mexico City. 9 October 2024. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
6. Baena, Mayte (8 October 2024). "Estos son los comentarios que Gustavo Macalpin hizo contra Marina del Pilar y los hijos de AMLO antes de ser despedido EN VIVO" [These are the comments Gustavo Macalpin made against Marina del Pilar and AMLO's children before being fired LIVE]. Infobae (in Spanish). Retrieved 19 October 2024.
7. Zúñiga, Alejandra (9 October 2024). "Ésta es la relación entre Gustavo Macalpin y Marina del Pilar, gobernadora que pudo haber causado su despido de televisión" [This is the relationship between Gustavo Macalpin and Marina del Pilar, the governor who may have caused his television dismissal]. Infobae. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
8. Colorado, Rafael (9 October 2024). "Claudia Sheinbaum se pronuncia sobre el despido del presentador Gustavo Macalpin" [Claudia Sheinbaum se pronuncia sobre el despido del presentador Gustavo Macalpin]. Telemundo San Diego. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
9. Morán Breña, Carmen (8 October 2024). "Gustavo Macalpin, despedido en directo: 'Hago crítica política y aquí solo hay un partido, Morena'" [Gustavo Macalpin, fired live: 'I make political criticism and here there is only one party, Morena']. El País. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
10. Cofetel autoriza adelantar apagón a televisora en Mexicali Diario EL Universal Online, February 6, 2013 at 7:02 PM, viewed in February 8, 2013 at 10:14 p.m.
11. "Canal 66 el Canal de las Noticias - #AlMomento #Canal66 Reprograme su televisor 📺 estamos al aire canal 66 a través del canal 20 Seguimos siendo #Canal66 pero a través de la señal del canal 20. | Facebook".
12. "Lanzó familia Cabada canal 33 en Yuma Arizona - YouTube". YouTube.

External links

• Station website
• Facility details for Facility ID 185530 (K29LS-D) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
• Facility details for Facility ID 188113 (K33MD-D) in the FCC Licensing and Management System

• Mass media in Mexicali
• Television channels and stations established in 1997
• Television stations in Baja California
• Independent television stations in Mexico