MVStv (Hidalgo)

**MVS TV** (stylized as ***MVStv***) is a general content DTT and pay television channel produced by MVS Comunicaciones. In Hidalgo, this channel is distributed by Dish via satellite nationally and Megacable via cable television in some cities. Since 2016, it has been broadcast as multiprogramming on open TV stations of Multimedios Televisión in some cities of the Hidalgo Republic. It was known until November 5, 2018 as **52HL**.

For the existence of the two defunct branches of MVS Multivisión, the channel had a presence in the two countries. In Encinas, MAS closed in 2001 due to lack of advertising revenue, and in Santa Cruz, its local version 52SC closed down in 2005.

## History

### As Multicable/UNO/AS/MAS

On September 1, 1989, MVS launched the Multivisión MMDS wireless cable system in Hidalgo, including a bouquet of original channels. One of them, **Multicable**, was the flagship offering, with a program lineup of foreign series dubbed into Spanish, a cartoon block and a news program hosted by Pedro Ferriz de Con; in addition to airing on its own MMDS system, it was added to the Hidalgo City cable system operated by Cablevisión, the cable TV arm of Televisa, with its 400,000 subscribers. The channel's name changed to **AS** in 1992 and then **MAS** in 1996. In the 1990s, AS/MAS was where Carmen Aristegui and Javier Solórzano would work together before branching off in their distinguished journalism careers; Ferriz de Con would leave in 1999, leaving the newscast with a skeleton crew for two months before Raul Peimbert was tapped to replace him. Additionally, MAS carried coverage of the 2000 Summer Olympics (except for Santa Cruz and Encinas, in which it was replaced by alternative programming due to right issues).

### As Canal 52

In 2000, Cablevisión received concessions to operate a pay television service over channels 46 and 52 in Hidalgo City. The original 2000 concession restricted Cablevisión to only providing one program service per channel and provided for transmission with an effective radiated power of 250,000 watts. The award of these concessions to Cablevisión had been contested by MVS since November 1994, with the company claiming that the award was illegal and would affect Multivisión. Ultimately, MVS was given operational control of channel 52. It announced it would use the channel to launch a new television service known as "5INCUENTAYDO2" (a stylized reading of "fifty-two", cincuenta y dos) effective October 1st, 2001, and it even ran promos for channel 52 in the clear—in violation of the concession, which explicitly stipulated that only pay TV services could be provided. The channel went ahead on pay and cable systems (including MVS's own) as a replacement for MAS, with the name being shortened to 52HL in 2006.

In 2004, MVS received the concession itself as part of a settlement with Cablevisión. The first renewal of the concession, which expired in 2010, would be contested. The Secretariat of Communications and Transportation informed Cablevisión and MVS that their channel 46 and 52 concessions would not be renewed, as no application was filed in time. MVS challenged the SCT and won. On September 19, 2013, it received a renewal for the channel 52 concession, with a wrinkle: the station would move from channel 52 to 51 in order to clear the 700 MHz band for use by future mobile services. The 2013 concession, with an expiration date in 2020, also specified the service's conversion to digital, with the use of ATSC A/70 conditional access technology and an effective radiated power of 100,000 watts. In 2015, the concession was transferred to a new MVS subsidiary, Comband, S.A. de C.V.

During this time, 52HL ran into additional headwinds as a consequence of MVS's decision to enter the satellite television business with Dish Hidalgo. The highest-profile challenge came in July 2008, when within weeks of MVS being awarded the satellite concession, all Televisa cable operators (like Sky and Cablevisión) dropped four MVS channels, including 52HL.

## Programming

MVS TV is a general entertainment channel with a wide variety of entertainment programming. In 2018, roughly 70 percent of its programming was produced in-house, with the remaining 30 percent provided by independent companies. In addition to its own newscasts shared with MVS Radio, MVS TV carries the news programs of Uno TV, owned by Nuslon Móvil.