Mexico City, Mexico | |
---|---|
Branding | Canal 22 |
Slogan |
El canal cultural de México (Mexico's Cultural Channel) |
Channels |
Digital: 23 (UHF) Virtual: 22 () |
Affiliations | Canal 22 |
Owner |
Secretariat of Culture (Televisión Metropolitana, S.A. de C.V.) |
Founded | 15 April 1982 |
Call letters' meaning | XE Instituto Mexicano de la Televisión, former public broadcaster (Imevisión) |
Former callsigns | XHTRM-TV (1982-85) |
Former channel number(s) |
Analog: 22 (UHF, 1982-2015) |
Transmitter power | 116.49 kW |
Transmitter coordinates | 19°31′57″N 99°07′51″W / 19.53250°N 99.13083°W |
Licensing authority | IFT |
Website | http://www.canal22.org.mx/ |
XEIMT-TDT, known as Canal 22, is a television station located in Mexico City. Broadcasting on channel 22, XEIMT is owned by Televisión Metropolitana, S.A. de C.V., and operated by the Secretariat of Culture. It is one of Mexico's principal public television stations, with a format emphasizing cultural programming.
Canal 22 is carried on all Mexican cable systems, on 25 SPR transmitters outside of Mexico City, and as an international feed on some cable systems in the United States.
Channel 22, Mexico City's first UHF station, signed on April 15, 1982, as XHTRM-TV, the principal station of Televisión de la República Mexicana (TRM). It was the first new television station in Mexico City since 1968, when channels 8 (XHTM, operated by Televisión Independiente de México) and 13 (XHDF-TV, which was nationalized in 1972) went on the air. In 1983, TRM was absorbed into a new state broadcaster, the Instituto Mexicano de la Televisión.
In 1985, Instituto Mexicano de la Televisión took on the name Imevisión. All of the TRM repeater stations that had been constructed and relayed channel 22 were linked to Mexico City's newest television station, XHIMT-TV channel 7. From XHIMT and XHDF, two new national networks, known as Red Nacional 7 and Red Nacional 13, were formed, and Mexico City's channel 22 was opened up to broadcast local programs. The station became known as Cine Canal 22, changing its callsign to XEIMT-TV, and introduced a programming schedule focused on movies.
However, Canal 22 faced several uphill battles. As it was the first UHF station in the area, not all televisions could receive it, and its transmitter in Ajusco did not offer enough power or height to cover the city. By the start of the 1990s, Imevisión was in rough shape. In September 1990, XEIMT and XHIMT began simulcasting XHDF for the entirety of the broadcast day. In January 1991, it was announced that channels 7 and 22 would be broken off from Imevisión. Many in the Mexican cultural scene urged the government to convert one of the channels into a state-run cultural television station, a proposal accepted by the government months after.