Azteca 7

Azteca 7

Type	Terrestrial television network
Country	Mexico
Broadcast area	Mexico (available in southern United States by cable or antenna)
Headquarters	Mexico City
Programming
Picture format	1080i HDTV
Ownership
Owner	TV Azteca
Sister channels	Azteca Uno ADN 40 A Más
History
Launched	18 May 1985; 39 years ago (1985-05-18)
Links
Website	www.tvazteca.com/azteca7/index
Availability
Terrestrial
National transmitter network	See list

Azteca 7 (also called El Siete) is a Mexican network owned by TV Azteca, with more than 100 main transmitters all over Mexico.

Azteca 7 is available on all cable and satellite systems. A substantial portion of their purchased programming includes many series purchased from networks such as Disney Channel, Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon among others; while the series aimed at the general public often comes from major alliances like The Walt Disney Company, Fox Broadcasting Company, Sony Group Corporation, Warner Bros. (now known as Warner Bros. Discovery), NBCUniversal and ViacomCBS (now known as Paramount Global), among others. In programming, its main national competitor in open television has historically been Canal 5 of TelevisaUnivision.

To bring a channel 7 to Mexico City, which had channels 2, 4, 5, 8, 11 and 13, a channel shuffle had to be made. This channel shuffle converted Televisa's station XHTM-TV channel 8 to channel 9. Two Puebla stations, XEX-TV channel 7 and XEQ-TV channel 9, moved to channels 8 and 10; XEQ took on the XHTM callsign that was discontinued in Mexico City. In Toluca, channel 7 (XHGEM-TV) was moved to channel 12, and XHTOL-TV moved from channel 9 to 10. XHIMT-TV took to the air on May 15, 1985, as the third of three Mexico City stations operated by public broadcaster Imevisión, sister to XHDF-TV channel 13 and XEIMT-TV channel 22, and the flagship station of a second Imevisión national network which featured 99 repeater stations serving 72% of the population.^[1] The new Red Nacional 7 (7 National Network) was positioned as targeting the working class and rural areas, while Red Nacional 13, based from XHDF, targeted a more middle- and upper-class audience.

However, financial mismanagement, economic troubles and other issues quickly signaled trouble for Imevisión. In 1990, XEIMT and XHIMT were converted into relays of XHDF, and the next year, the government of Mexico announced it was selling XHIMT and XHDF to the private sector. The sale of these two networks in 1993 formed the new TV Azteca network.

By October 1993, XHIMT was operating independently under Azteca as Tú Visión. The programming of Azteca 7 since then has largely consisted of children's programs, sports, foreign series and movies, serving as a competitor to Televisa's Canal 5.

Foreign shows aired on Azteca 7 include FBI, The Good Doctor, Malcolm in the Middle, Smallville, The Simpsons, and recently Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury.

After its privatization, Azteca 7 began carrying NBA basketball, though Televisa now holds these rights. Soccer rights on Azteca 7 include the Liga MX, as well as all official and friendly matches of the Mexico national soccer team. Azteca 7 also carries NFL games, boxing (Box Azteca) and lucha libre (Lucha Azteca).

Films included from companies like:

• Cannon Films
• Carolco Pictures
• EuropaCorp
• Lionsgate Entertainment
  • Lionsgate Films
  • Summit Entertainment
• MGM Motion Picture Group
  • Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
  • Orion Pictures
• NBCUniversal Studio Group
  • Focus Features
  • DreamWorks Animation
  • DreamWorks Pictures
  • Illumination Entertainment
  • Universal Pictures
• Paramount Pictures Corporation
  • Nickelodeon Movies
  • Paramount Pictures
• Sony Pictures Entertainment
  • Columbia Pictures
  • Screen Gems
  • Sony Pictures Animation
  • TriStar Pictures
• StudioCanal
• Viva Pictures
• Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
  • 20th Century Studios
  • Blue Sky Studios
  • Buena Vista International
  • Hollywood Pictures
  • Lucasfilm
  • Marvel Studios
  • Pixar
  • Regency Enterprises
  • Searchlight Pictures
  • Walt Disney Animation Studios
  • Walt Disney Pictures
  • Touchstone Pictures
• Warner Bros. Entertainment
  • Cartoon Network Studios
  • New Line Cinema
  • Warner Bros. Pictures

Azteca 7 has 89 full-power transmitters that broadcast its programming; it also is carried, albeit in SD, as a subchannel of 14 additional Azteca Uno transmitters. Except in the border cities of Tijuana, Mexicali and Ciudad Juárez, Azteca 7 is exclusively mapped to virtual channel 7 nationwide.^[2][3]

• Azteca 7 website (in Spanish)
• TV Azteca website (in Spanish)