The Sistema Público de Radiodifusión del Estado Mexicano (SPR, English: Mexican State Public Broadcasting System), known as Organismo Promotor de Medios Audiovisuales (OPMA, English: Broadcast Media Promotion Organization) until 2014, is an independent Mexican government agency. Its mission is to support the development of public television in the country and increase its national reach; it carries this goal out through ownership of a nationwide network of transmitters and the operation of its own public television network. The agency was established by a decree published on March 31, 2010.
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History
By 2010, two major public television stations existed in Mexico: the Instituto Politécnico Nacional's Canal Once, Conaculta's Canal 22. In addition, the low-powered test signal XHUNAM-TDT channel 20 and the teveunam pay TV network, owned by the largest public university in Mexico, UNAM, had been in operation since 2000 and 2005, respectively. However, not all of these stations, especially Canal 22 and teveunam, had national coverage outside of pay television services. None of them had a general national reach above 30%. Even then, major cities, including Guadalajara and Monterrey, were not in Canal Once's signal footprint.
OPMA was established with the mission of ensuring that more Mexicans could receive a wider range of public television signals. Indeed, when the first four OPMA transmitters took to the air on July 12, 2010, national coverage for Canal Once (then known as Once TV México) jumped from 28 to 42%; it is now at 66%.
The 2014 Mexican telecommunications reform transformed OPMA into SPR, effective August 13, 2014. At the same time, the system became an independent agency no longer under the auspices of the Secretariat of the Interior (SEGOB).
On August 26, 2015, the IFT awarded the SPR concessions for seven new TV stations and two radio stations.
Television network
SPR's flagship television network, Una Voz con Todos (A Voice for All), abbreviated as UVTV, broadcasts documentaries and other programs. Its programming is designed to strengthen the democratic values of Mexican society.
Television transmitters
SPR's transmitter network currently covers 56% of the Mexican population. The flagship station is XHOPMA-TDT in Mexico City. Ten transmitters, denoted with asterisks, carry Canal del Congreso.
Transmitters under construction
These transmitters were part of the 2015 concession package:
A further seven were awarded in 2016, all on VHF:
Other SPR relay transmitters
In October 2015, SPR signed a contract with Grupo Intermedia, owner of XHILA-TDT and XHIJ-TDT, in order to expand the coverage of Una Voz con Todos into Mexicali and Ciudad Juárez, neither of which had ever had national public television service. While the SPR prefers to build its own transmitters, the length of time needed to obtain a concession, as well as spectrum availability in the border markets, makes a subchannel plan more effective.
Radio stations
The SPR received its first radio concessions in 2015 and added three transmitters in 2016.
Digital multiplex
SPR stations carry a multiplex of five or six channels. The established Canal Once, Once Niños, Canal 22 and TV UNAM are joined by Una Voz con Todos and also by Ingenio TV, an educational service of the Secretariat of Public Education. Third-wave SPR transmitters also have Canal del Congreso:
SPR stations use the channel numbers of the networks they carry; thus, they map to virtual channels 11 (Canal Once), 14 (Una Voz con Todos), 20 (TV UNAM), 22 (Canal 22) and 45 (Canal del Congreso, where available).
As XEIPN and XEIMT have their own digital channels, XHOPMA only carries Una Voz con Todos, Ingenio TV and TV UNAM, using the same virtual channels.