Desde el Pleno: XXXI Ordinaria (Nov. 27)
The IFT makes it rain (social stations)
The IFT was pretty busy at its November 27 ordinary Pleno meeting, one of the last of the year. We know they met on the 11th of December, but it’s unclear how many more meetings there will be before the agency goes on Christmas break next week, and it’s not likely that we get news of them until the new year.
New Social Stations
Most of the broadcasting matters related to social stations, and the agency burned off a series of applications it had from the 2017 PABF. This is a full list of awards:
- Comunicadores Comunitarios del Arte y la Cultura, A.C. — FM, Mexico City, community
- Radio Comunicación Purépecha, A.C. — TDT, Cherán-Paracho Mich. (chosen over Centro de Estudios de la Comunicación y la Cultura Indígena, A.C., would have been community)
- Radio Comunitaria Tenancingo, A.C. — FM, Tenancingo Mex., community
- Radio Lacustre, A.C. — TDT x2 (Puebla, Tehuacán) + AM x2 (Tehuacán, Teziutlán), all in Puebla
- Radio Metro Misión Potosina — AM x3 (San Luis Potosí, Matehuala, Tamazunchale) + FM x2 (Matehuala, Ríoverde), all in San Luis Potosí. Yes, those are two stations for Matehuala
It is surprising to see that the IFT found room to squeeze in another FM in the Mexico City area, probably a Class D as there is no further room for Class A stations.
Purépecha now has several AM and TDT stations in the state.
The real unknowns are the multi-concession winners, Lacustre and Metro Misión. Both have since filed for additional allocations. Lacustre in the 2018 PABF went after four AMs in Guanajuato, three in Michoacán and one in Monterrey, plus FMs in Campeche and Guerrero; in 2019 they sought the TDT for Guadalajara. Metro Misión Potosina went after two Michoacán stations, three AMs in Guanajuato, an FM at Manzanillo Col. and television stations in Chihuahua and Toluca in 2018; they did not bid in 2019.
Sales and Transfers
The IFT approved two changes for commercial radio stations. For XERY-AM 1450 Arcelia Gro., the concessionaire is no longer the successors of Rafael García Vergara but his son, Rafael García Tapia. There was a share sale in the ownership of XHAG-FM Córdoba Ver. in the middle of a group realignment there.
(As a sidebar, this group business around the creation of Radio Comunicación de las Altas Montañas from Grupo Radio Digital’s stations there as well as XHPG-FM 92.1 is all but certain to flip XHPG to La Mejor. They have the new logo — well, part of it — on social media.)
Not My Friend
The IFT also took the uncommon step of a high-level denial in dismissing the application by Asociación Amiga, A.C., for a community FM to serve Hércules, Coahuila. This was an attempt by Amiga to save the ex-XHHCC-FM, a permit station that was not transferred to a concession after the LFTR and thus expired. It is unclear why the denial was made. The last denial of this type, however, might hold a clue. It was of proposed community stations to be run by Centro de Estudios Técnicos Laguna del Rey, part of a mining company; the IFT deemed the applications too management-heavy in the context of the mine. (They have filed for pure social stations.) Perhaps a similar issue befell Amiga, or it had to do with the expired permit?
Time to Go, 6–5–0
Last year, the IFT awarded social station XECSBK-AM 650 Puerto Vallarta to Carlos Martínez Macías. That was a first-of-its-kind move in that it was the first award of a continuity-obligated AM frequency to a social applicant. The IFT has ordered XEEJ-AM to cease operations on 650 and go FM-only on XHEJ-FM 93.5 to allow the new station to start broadcasting. XEEJ had a continuity obligation to cover more than 25,000 otherwise unserved people.
