Telesistema Mexicano was the predecessor of Televisa. Telesistema Mexicano was a television alliance made up of the independently owned television flagship stations XEW Canal 2, XHTV Canal 4, and XHGC Canal 5 in Mexico, Distrito Federal.

Telesistema Mexicano was founded in 1955 when Mexico, Distrito Federal television stations XEW Canal 2 owned by Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta, XHTV Canal 4 owned by Rómulo O'Farrill, XHGC Canal 5 owned by Guillermo González Camarena, and capital and expertise from Ernesto Barrientos Ventosa merged to form an alliance. Its programming originated from the Televicentro building. By the early 1970s, TSM was the most powerful television network in all of Mexico; its productions were exported to Central American countries without production capabilities. It also produced the television coverage of the 1970 FIFA World Cup and sold the rights to individual international networks, among them an exclusive deal with ITV in the United Kingdom, which infuriated the BBC.

In 1968 Monterrey businessmen established Televisión Independiente de México XHTM Canal 8 in Mexico, Distrito Federal to compete with Telesistema Mexico but later ended up being merged with their competitor in 1973. This last merger between Telesistema de Mexico and Televisión Independiente de México led to the creation of Television Via Satellite (Televisa).

Information correct as of the 1972/73 Television Factbook:

After the TIM-TSM merger, four TSM stations joined the existing TSM station portfolio (XHTM-TV, XET-TV, XHP-TV and XHFM-TV) and were realigned into the existing Televisa networks.