In the immediate future, if Televisa or any other radio and television dealership transmits the controversial anti -immigrant campaign of Donald Trump, will pay it very expensive. Literally. Claudia Sheinbaum executive promotes a reform to the law in which fines of between 2% and 5% of the total revenues of the concessionaire issued by propaganda of foreign governments are established. Taking into account the main Mexican broadcasting dealers, Televisa and TV Azteca, who are in the hands of two of the richest men in the country, the fines would reach stratospheric figures. Federal government sources have pointed out to El País that radio and TV businessmen have condemned the proposal because they were not taken into account and consider penalties very high. The law initiative will be approved expressly on Wednesday in the Senate and sent immediately for ratification to the Chamber of Deputies.
The proposal to reform the Federal Telecommunications and Radiodifusion Law establishes that the sanctions will be in charge of the Ministry of the Interior, to which powers are restored in the surveillance of the dealers. “It will be sanctioned with a fine for the equivalent of 2% to 5% of the income of the concessionaire, authorized, programmer, or digital platform by […] Failure to have the prohibition of advertising established in article 210 of the Law, ”says the initiative. This article establishes:“ The concessionaires that provide the broadcasting, television or audio service in the country may not transmit political, ideological, commercial or any type of governments or foreign entities, with the exception of tourism or cultural promotion. Nor will foreign governments be allowed to use national media to influence the country’s internal affairs. ”
That same article extends the same prohibition – and the possibility of the same fines – to digital platforms, from those of social networks such as X to the services of services streaming Like YouTube. “Digital platforms, whose contents are available in the national territory, will not be able to market advertising spaces for the dissemination of advertising, propaganda or any information from foreign governments other than those that have cultural or tourist purposes,” says the initiative.
The aggressive campaign against migrants sponsored by Washington has monopolized the headlines this week, and has played nationalist fibers among Mexican authorities. The first spot The campaign shows the United States National Secretary of the United States, Kristi Noem, launching a warning to people entering their country illegally that they will be “hunted” and deported. Until now, the announcement, in English and with subtitles, has been transmitted through the channels and programs with the highest audience in Televisa, although the government has already identified the diffusion of the spot in local radios of the states (in that case it is emitted with dubbing in Spanish).
According to public information, Televisa, owned by Emilio Azcárraga Jean, obtained in 2024 revenues of 62,261 million pesos (3,171 million dollars). For its part, TV Azteca, by Ricardo Salinas Pliego, had revenues of 15.1 billion pesos (769 million dollars) in 2022, the last year consultable (the television stopped quoting on the bag). If the law immediately applied to the Jean Azcárraga chain, the fine to which it would be creditor would range between 1,245 and 3,113 million pesos.
The project indicates that the administration of the radio spectrum will be in the hands of the powerful digital transformation agency (ATD), headed by Pepe Merino, one of the closest collaborators of President Sheinbaum. The law indicates that spectrum management is a public priority, since “its adequate administration will guarantee the availability of this resource to meet the growing demand for wireless communication.” It states that it is necessary to guarantee equitable access to spectrum, technological innovation and optimization of use efficiently and sustainably. “With strategic planning, the digital gap can be closed, improve the country’s competitiveness and ensure that more people benefit from the opportunities offered by digitalization,” he says.
The initiative establishes that the administration of the radio spectrum will be in the hands of the powerful Digital Transformation Agency (ATD), headed by Pepe Merino, one of the closest collaborators of President Sheinbaum. The law indicates that spectrum management is a public priority, since “its adequate administration will guarantee the availability of this resource to meet the growing demand for wireless communication.” It states that it is necessary to guarantee equitable access to spectrum, technological innovation and optimization of use efficiently and sustainably. “With strategic planning, the digital gap can be closed, improve the country’s competitiveness and ensure that more people benefit from the opportunities offered by digitalization,” he says.
In the events, the ATD will take the role that the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) had, disappeared by the administration of Sheinbaum together with a cluster of autonomous government institutions. The agency will be responsible for the elaboration and approval of plans and programs for the use of the spectrum; the establishment of conditions for the attribution of frequency bands; the granting of concessions, authorizations and records of registration; the supervision of radio emissions and the application of the sanctions regime. In summary, the Executive will have absolute control over spectrum concessions.
The initiative indicates that, although the Government will supervise that the contents respect human rights and audiences, the concessionaires will have “full freedom of expression, programmatic freedom, editorial freedom”, and ensures that there will be no “prior censorship over their contents.” The law states that audiences and users “are the most important component in the telecommunications ecosystem, are for them and for them the services offered by dealerships”, so a robust scaffolding is designed to guarantee their rights through the Federal Consumer Prosecutor’s Office (Profeco).
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