Tlaxcala TV Troubles
Action will be needed to secure the future of the state’s public TV network
Tlaxcala’s state network is hitting a concession rough patch, and it will take more than the special advance filing window in the 2022 PABF to fix it.
On October 20, the IFT ruled that the Coordinación de Radio, Cine y Televisión de Tlaxcala (CORACYT) waited way too long to file renewals for four television transmitters in the state, of the five that make up the Tlaxcala Televisión network. It filed renewals on August 11 of this year when it should have done so for three transmitters (XHTXM Huamantla, XHTLX Tlaxcala, XHSPM San Pablo del Monte) in the year ending May 30, 2020, for concessions expiring October 24, 2022. For XHTXB-TDT 23 in Apizaco, the renewal was especially tardy: Article 114 of the LFTR and its “final fifth” rule prescribed a renewal filing by October 5, 2018. (A fifth transmitter, XHTCL-TDT 31 at Calpulalpan, is listed as active despite having its last concession expire in 2017; it is unclear if a renewal was pending.)
Even before this ruling, the IFT had thrown a lifeline to the Apizaco transmitter, which was available for applications last month during a special filing window tied into the 2022 PABF. All but one of the offered television allotments corresponded to state network concessions that were expiring at year’s end, and it is feasible — even likely — that CORACYT has a concession for it by December 31. However, a second step will now be needed to secure the future of the only television service devoted to Tlaxcala.
Common-Concession Conversion, Here We Come?
The playbook that CORACYT needs to look at is modeled after similar problems faced in Puebla and Oaxaca:
- XHPUE-TDT expires at year’s end, and the state had recently received another concession for XHPBZC-TDT in Zacatlán. It converted to common-concession status using XHPBZC as the base.
- On January 1, 2022, all of the expiring CORTV concessions will be replaced with XHCPBR-TDT, a common concession for the network.
The 2021 PABF contained television concessions that had statewide statutory coverage areas for Oaxaca and Puebla, which solved this problem. It will be necessary for the IFT to add one for Tlaxcala to the 2022 PABF. Once the replacement for XHTXB is awarded, Tlaxcala Televisión can then file for the common concession conversion and secure it based on the existing concession. (Alternatively, the 2022 PABF could include three or four separate frequency allotments, as TV4 did in the special window.)
There isn’t a major rush; the expiration date of the three other transmitters not in Apizaco is October 24, 2022. But there is a ticking clock, and CORACYT must act in order to secure continuity of service.
