XEHL-TV, Televisión Tapatía: 1960–80 The history of XEDK-TV begins with the sign-on of XEHL-TV channel 6, which came to air on September 22, 1960. XEHL was owned by Televisión Tapatía, a local group backed by Guadalajara business owners. Only months earlier,
XEWO-TV channel 2, the first
Telesistema Mexicano station in Guadalajara, had taken to the air. XEHL was among the few television stations in Mexico not under TSM's control. The competition was lopsided: XEWO broadcast 11 hours of programming a day, while XEHL only had five and a half hours a day by late 1960. TSM not only had better programming and equipment to bring in Mexico City programs via a link at
La Piedad, Michoacán, but it also gained a sister station,
XHG-TV channel 4, in 1961. When TSM's duopoly took full force, it realigned its channels 2 and 4 so that the new channel 4 would run all of the Mexico City programs and channel 2 would remain local (this was later reversed). Much of XEHL's programming, in contrast, consisted of live studio shows. In 1962,
Walter Cross Buchanan, the Secretary of Communications and Transportation, declared that there was an opportunity to extend Mexican television's reach "from border to border and from coast to coast". Telesistema Mexicano quite clearly had the lead. It collaborated with the government on the development of a national microwave system, which proved key to the development of television in provincial Mexico. TSM brought its viewers the launch of
Gordon Cooper into space and the funeral of John F. Kennedy. In 1963, TSM built a new microwave link on Cerro Gordo, near
Tepatitlán, improving the quality of its Guadalajara–Mexico City connection. Advertisers flocked to the better TSM programming, and TSM even began ripping off program concepts from channel 6. In 1963 and 1964, the losses for Televisión Tapatía widened, and TT ultimately signed a contract under which Telesistema Mexicano would provide sales services and videotape equipment to XEHL. The move was crucial to channel 6's survival; its profits jumped 73.7 percent for 1965. saw channel 6 mount the first color transmissions by an interior Mexican television station; The competitive landscape proved unfruitful for Televisión Tapatía, and in 1980, XEHL waved the white flag. Channel 6 was sold to a group headed by Clemente Serna Martínez and his
Radio Programas de México, which owned the Grupo DK portfolio of radio stations headed by
XEDK-AM 1250 as well as several Mexico City radio stations and was on generally good terms with the Azcárraga family. RPM folded the television station into Grupo DK, and on October 23, 1980, channel 6 took a new call sign: XEDK-TV.
Televisa repeater years: 1997–2020 In 1997, XEDK moved from channel 6 to 5, in order to avoid increasing interference from FM radio stations. It also became a repeater of most of XHTV's programming, with local news known as "Antena Cinco". In April 2001, XEDK became a full-time repeater of channel 9 in Mexico City, today known as
Nu9ve, with no local programming. In 2009, Corporación Tapatía de Televisión reported that its main source of income was payments made by Televisa to XEDK to broadcast the Mexico City station. The contract with Televisa ran through 2030. XEDK shut off its analog signal on December 16, 2015, along with other Guadalajara stations; as a result of its carriage of Gala TV/Nu9ve, the station adopted virtual channel 9 in 2016.
Independence and owner changes In 2020, Televisa opted to end its contract with Corporación Tapatía de Televisión and air Nu9ve programming on its own
XEWO-TDT. XEDK-TDT ceased airing Nu9ve on October 1, 2020, at which time it began airing a loop advising viewers to watch for new programming. Virtual channel 9 went to XEWO-TDT two weeks later, moving XEDK-TDT to channel 8. The station began airing the programming of
XHFAMX-TDT "La Octava" on October 29, 2020. As of March 7, 2022, XEDK stopped from retransmitting to
La Octava to broadcasting
Canal 13. On April 20, the
Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones approved the transfer of the concession to Telsusa Televisión México, S.A. of C.V. ==References==