Mexico offers an abundance of news and content choices across a spectrum of traditional and modern media.
Mexico has quite a lot of newspapers, both national dailies and regional papers. Free broadcast television is dominated by two companies – Televisa and TV Azteca – with small local broadcasters making little impression on the market. Pay TV and Internet services are ubiquitous across the country and there is strong competition in the market for talk radio, especially in Mexico City.
Television in Mexico
Open broadcast television in Mexico is dominated by two companies – Televisa and TV Azteca, which operate the only national networks.
- Televisa’s flagship channel is Channel 2, and it also runs channels 4, 5 and 9.
- TV Azteca’s main channel is Channel 13, and it also runs Channel 7, and Channel 40 in Mexico City.
The main fare on Mexican television includes news, soap operas (Mexican soap operas are popular in many parts of the world), sports, game shows, reality shows, talk and gossip shows, as well as an abundance of U.S. programs (such as cartoons, sitcoms and dramas) dubbed into Spanish.
More cultural content (music, dance, theater, etc.) is available on government-run Channel 11 and Channel 22. Their broadcast range is limited, although the channels are available on most pay-tv systems.
Despite a broad variety of programming on the free broadcast channels, most people who can afford it opt for some type of pay TV service. One of the reasons is the inordinate amount of time dedicated to advertising on free television.
Pay TV services in Mexico
Cable TV in Mexico
The most common restricted TV service at present is cable. There are more than four million cable subscribers in the Mexico, and about 1.5 million satellite television subscribers. Usually there is only one cable TV operator in any given area, although there are several hundred small cable operators in the country, and a handful of large cable companies.
Sky television in Mexico
Sky Mexico is the country’s only provider of satellite TV service.
TV services offered by internet
In recent years online “content streaming” services have proliferated offering customers an unprecedented choice of TV-like content including:
- Netflix
- Amazon Prime
- Apple TV
- Disney+
- HBO
- Tubi
- Mubi
- Roku (streaming device)
- YouTube also streams some TV content
See also: Going to the Movies in Mexico
Radio in Mexico
Mexican radio offers a large variety of programming, from news, talk shows, rock and pop music in English and Spanish, regional Mexican music, classical music, etc.
As with television, the amount of time given to commercial breaks can be exasperating and some listeners prefer to use music streaming services (see next section) especially if they are not interested in the “chat & conversation” aspects of talk radio shows.
Radio stations in Mexico
Stations and frequencies vary from region to region, but the biggest radio groups post their programming and have live streaming on Internet. The principal commercial radio broadcasters in Mexico are:
In addition, Radio Unam is run by the National Autonomous University, and features more cultural content than commercial radio.
See also: An Oasis on the Frequency Band
Music streaming services
You can access all the main music streaming services in Mexico, which offer an alternative to advertisement-heavy radio stations and some also offer podcasts. The most popular are:
Newspapers in Mexico
Circulation of Mexican newspapers has always been small compared to more developed countries, and most don’t make (and never have made) a lot of noise about their actual readership numbers.
Mexico’s principal daily news services
Physical newspaper circulation is very limited in Mexico, and most people now get their news from online editions of the ‘newspapers’ as well as other online-only services.
The principal newspaper brands still issue paper versions in limited runs, but most readers are online. Mexico’s dedicated English-language newspaper is offered only online.
Mexico News Daily is the country’s leading English-language Mexico-focused daily news service. The company does not print a newspaper; it delivers all its content online. Originally founded in 2014, it was purchased by its current owners in 2022. Mexico News Daily is a subscription-based news service. Readers can access a limited number of articles free each month, and there’s a free version of the daily newsletter.
Reforma, the sister publication of Monterrey’s El Norte, is published in Mexico City. With its launch in 1993, Reforma started a new era of independent newspapers, at one point using its own journalists to distribute the paper following a boycott by the distributors’ union in the capital. It remains one of the newspapers with the most credibility. Reforma, like Mexico News Daily, is a subscription-based news service
El Universal, along with Reforma, is one of the top four newspaper brands in Mexico and also requires a subscription for full access. It has long been famous for its large classified advertising section, Aviso Oportuno. Its main site offers access to news sections and the classified ads section has been spun-off into its own website, Aviso Oportuno.
La Jornada is Mexico’s leading left-wing news outlet. It has some of the country’s best political cartoonists, publishes more readers’ letters than most, and includes high quality coverage in its arts and provinces sections. It tends to be text-heavy for modern tastes.
Milenio began as regional daily in Monterrey in 1974; later it published a news magazine before launching its daily newspaper in 2000. A sort of hybrid between a tabloid and broadsheet, with additional focus on sports and entertainment sections.
El Financiero is the country’s oldest financial newspaper, with a focus on economic and business news. It has lost popularity over the years, particularly as other news outlets have beefed up their business coverage.
El Economista is a financial newspaper. Like El Financiero, it focuses on business news and is where most official and legal business announcements (about debt placements, share offers, etc.) are published. Its readers are largely business people.
Magazines in Mexico
As in the case of newspapers, relatively few people in Mexico read magazines, although there are a number of interesting publications, from weekly news magazines to monthly fashion and other specialized publications. Sanborns stores, situated throughout Mexico, stock a wide selection of Mexican and international magazines.
Proceso is a weekly political magazine, mostly critical of the government. It dedicates a lot of space to drug trafficking and other contentious issues.
Vertigo, published weekly, provides a summary of the week’s news, but carries limited original content.
Milenio, the forerunner to the daily Milenio, offers weekly news and commentary.
Letras Libres contains commentary on politics and culture, with a wide range of subject matter.
Tiempo Libre is the place to find out what’s on in theater, cinema, concert, recitals, dance, museums, etc.
Mexico Desconocido is Mexico’s answer to National Geographic, with features on a host of cultural and natural wonders in Mexico. It appears monthly.
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