XHGC-TDT

XHGC-TDT (channel 5) is a television station in Mexico City. Owned and operated by Grupo Televisa, it is the flagship of the Canal 5 network.

XHGC was one of the first television stations in Mexico to receive a license, having received a concession by August 1950.

XHGC signed on May 10, 1952, broadcasting a Mother's Day event organized by the Excélsior newspaper, but regular programming began on September 18, 1952. The station was established by Guillermo González Camarena, a Mexican engineer who was one of the inventors of modern color television; the station's calls reflect his surnames. González Camarena was director and general manager of XHGC until his death in 1965, and XHGC's concessionaire remained Televisión González Camarena, S.A., until November 30, 1994.

In 1954, XHGC was one of the first stations in the world to broadcast an early version of 3D television, in which two of the same picture appear side by side on the screen, combined into a single 3-dimensional image using special glasses. This version of 3D television was developed by an American inventor, James Butterfield, and tested in Mexico on XHGC. Around this time, the station started receiving financing from Othon Vélez, close aide of Telesistema Mexicano, in order to sustain itself, causing a rapprochement with XEW-TV, which operated as Televimex. The station became a part of the TSM conglomerate on March 26, 1955.

In 1963, XHGC became the first station in Mexico to broadcast in color. By request of Guillermo González Camarena, XHGC became oriented at an audience of children and youth. The first color program broadcast was Paraíso infantil (Children's Paradise). Mexico was also likely the third country in North America and the fourth in the world, behind the United States, Cuba, and Japan, to introduce color television.

In the 1960s, XHGC also brought educational television to Mexico City viewers, with Telesecundaria, a pioneering educational program operated by the Secretary of Public Education. This was first conceived by González Camarena himself in 1965, and started in 1968.

At the end of the 1980s, the then-vice president of Televisa, Alejandro Burillo Azcárraga, spearheaded drastic changes in the branding of the company's television networks. While XHGC had branded as Canal 5 for years, using various logos with the number 5. However, as the network's various repeaters were not all on channel 5, the network began branding by the XHGC callsign. The landmark Energía Visual (Visual Energy) campaign, designed by Agustín Corona and Pablo Jato, featured idents with wildly varied logos and designs—a first for Mexican television. The campaign was designed to back the channel's youthful image.

The late 1980s also saw a unique split between XHGC and XEX-TV on Altzomoni, the other Canal 5 station receivable in Mexico City. The network began its broadcast day at 7 am in Mexico City, but at 4 pm in the rest of Mexico. The daytime hours on XEX (and some other Canal 5 repeaters) were filled by "TV Matutina" (later known as "Supercadena 8" or Super Channel 8), which offered repeats of Canal 5 and other Televisa programs.