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XHRIO-TDT
XHRIO-TDT (channel 15) was a television station in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, which served the Rio Grande Valley area in southern Texas, United States. The station was 98% owned by Mexican-based Televisora Alco, which was 40% owned by station operator Entravision Communications; XHRIO was a sister station to Entravision's duopoly of McAllen-licensed Univision affiliate KNVO (channel 48) and Harlingen-licensed Fox affiliate KFXV (channel 60), as well as three low-power stations, all licensed to McAllen: Class A UniMás affiliate KTFV-CD (channel 32), KMBH-LD (channel 67, and its Brownsville-licensed translator Class A KXFX-CD), and KCWT-CD (channel 21, also a CW Plus affiliate). XHRIO-TDT maintained its basic concession-compliant studios in Matamoros, with a second studio facility across the border (shared with Entravision's other stations) on North Jackson Road in McAllen housing master control and other internal operations. XHRIO-TDT's transmitter was located near El Control, Tamaulipas.
The station was long linked to programming from the United States, signing on as an independent station programmed from McAllen and serving as an affiliate of Telemundo, UPN, Fox, MundoFox/MundoMax, and The CW in its operational history. In 2019, Entravision announced that it had elected not to pay the 20-year renewal fee for the station's concession to broadcast beyond December 31, 2021, when the station ceased operations.
The concession for channel 2 was awarded in 1964, receiving the call sign of XHCR-TV and owned by Cadena Radiotelevisora del Norte, S.A. de C.V., a company owned by respected broadcaster Clemente Serna Alvear of Mexico City. In 1973, the name of the concessionaire was changed to Televisoras del Bajo Bravo, S.A.
In 1977, a joint venture was formed between the owners of KRIO (910 AM) in McAllen and KRIX (99.5 FM; now KKPS) in Brownsville and Serna Alvear. The venture brought channel 2 to the air on January 12, 1979 as XHRIO-TV (with call sign authorized on March 16 of that year), an English-language independent station. It branded as "XRIO", running primarily reruns of older American shows and recent feature films. The studios were co-located in McAllen with KRIO. The transmitter was eight miles (13 km) south of the Rio Grande and the Harlingen antenna farm. Since XHRIO-TV was perceived by its American competitors (KRGV-TV and KGBT-TV) as a "border blaster" or pirate station, both being unfounded, they set about to block live delivery of programming across the U.S. border.
Although XHRIO-TV had a broadcast signal superior to its U.S. counterparts, it suffered from serious underfunding and mismanagement by the ownership of the studio facility. During its first year, the technical staff which had created the facility against incredible odds slowly departed. Power to the transmitter site was sporadic and replacement technical people were not up to the task. Thus, XHRIO-TV was never able to establish an advertising base in the English market, despite extremely successful initial ratings. In 1981, the owners of the Mexican concession ended the delivery of programming tapes across the border to the channel 2 transmitter and converted XHRIO to a Spanish-language independent station aimed at Matamoros viewers.
In November 1988, the station became the Lower Rio Grande Valley's Telemundo affiliate. The concessionaire became known as Telegrande, S.A. XHRIO's Telemundo affiliation ended on May 1, 1999, due to low ratings (in part because TCI had dropped the station from its lineup in 1997); as a result, the station reverted to English-language programming by becoming a UPN affiliate. Prior to XHRIO joining UPN, the network's programming was seen in the area through secondary affiliations with KRGV-TV (channel 5) and KVEO (channel 23). Telemundo programming returned to the market that August, when KTLM (channel 40) went on the air. To reflect its affiliation, the station changed its callsign to XHHUPN-TV in 2001. In 2005, the station reverted to the XHRIO-TV calls and dropped UPN for Fox.
Fox programming had previously been seen on XHFOX-TV (channel 17) from September 1994 until February 2002, when station owner Televisa dumped the Fox affiliation and flipped that channel to a XEW-TV repeater as XHTAM-TV. Prior to XHFOX's arrival and before XHRIO took Fox, Lower Rio Grande viewers on the American side received the network from the nationwide Foxnet channel.
In 2007, XHRIO began broadcasting digitally on sister station KNVO's subchannel 48.3, but three years later, after KNVO began airing Univision in HD, XHRIO moved to its own digital channel 2.1.
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XHRIO-TDT
XHRIO-TDT (channel 15) was a television station in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, which served the Rio Grande Valley area in southern Texas, United States. The station was 98% owned by Mexican-based Televisora Alco, which was 40% owned by station operator Entravision Communications; XHRIO was a sister station to Entravision's duopoly of McAllen-licensed Univision affiliate KNVO (channel 48) and Harlingen-licensed Fox affiliate KFXV (channel 60), as well as three low-power stations, all licensed to McAllen: Class A UniMás affiliate KTFV-CD (channel 32), KMBH-LD (channel 67, and its Brownsville-licensed translator Class A KXFX-CD), and KCWT-CD (channel 21, also a CW Plus affiliate). XHRIO-TDT maintained its basic concession-compliant studios in Matamoros, with a second studio facility across the border (shared with Entravision's other stations) on North Jackson Road in McAllen housing master control and other internal operations. XHRIO-TDT's transmitter was located near El Control, Tamaulipas.
The station was long linked to programming from the United States, signing on as an independent station programmed from McAllen and serving as an affiliate of Telemundo, UPN, Fox, MundoFox/MundoMax, and The CW in its operational history. In 2019, Entravision announced that it had elected not to pay the 20-year renewal fee for the station's concession to broadcast beyond December 31, 2021, when the station ceased operations.
The concession for channel 2 was awarded in 1964, receiving the call sign of XHCR-TV and owned by Cadena Radiotelevisora del Norte, S.A. de C.V., a company owned by respected broadcaster Clemente Serna Alvear of Mexico City. In 1973, the name of the concessionaire was changed to Televisoras del Bajo Bravo, S.A.
In 1977, a joint venture was formed between the owners of KRIO (910 AM) in McAllen and KRIX (99.5 FM; now KKPS) in Brownsville and Serna Alvear. The venture brought channel 2 to the air on January 12, 1979 as XHRIO-TV (with call sign authorized on March 16 of that year), an English-language independent station. It branded as "XRIO", running primarily reruns of older American shows and recent feature films. The studios were co-located in McAllen with KRIO. The transmitter was eight miles (13 km) south of the Rio Grande and the Harlingen antenna farm. Since XHRIO-TV was perceived by its American competitors (KRGV-TV and KGBT-TV) as a "border blaster" or pirate station, both being unfounded, they set about to block live delivery of programming across the U.S. border.
Although XHRIO-TV had a broadcast signal superior to its U.S. counterparts, it suffered from serious underfunding and mismanagement by the ownership of the studio facility. During its first year, the technical staff which had created the facility against incredible odds slowly departed. Power to the transmitter site was sporadic and replacement technical people were not up to the task. Thus, XHRIO-TV was never able to establish an advertising base in the English market, despite extremely successful initial ratings. In 1981, the owners of the Mexican concession ended the delivery of programming tapes across the border to the channel 2 transmitter and converted XHRIO to a Spanish-language independent station aimed at Matamoros viewers.
In November 1988, the station became the Lower Rio Grande Valley's Telemundo affiliate. The concessionaire became known as Telegrande, S.A. XHRIO's Telemundo affiliation ended on May 1, 1999, due to low ratings (in part because TCI had dropped the station from its lineup in 1997); as a result, the station reverted to English-language programming by becoming a UPN affiliate. Prior to XHRIO joining UPN, the network's programming was seen in the area through secondary affiliations with KRGV-TV (channel 5) and KVEO (channel 23). Telemundo programming returned to the market that August, when KTLM (channel 40) went on the air. To reflect its affiliation, the station changed its callsign to XHHUPN-TV in 2001. In 2005, the station reverted to the XHRIO-TV calls and dropped UPN for Fox.
Fox programming had previously been seen on XHFOX-TV (channel 17) from September 1994 until February 2002, when station owner Televisa dumped the Fox affiliation and flipped that channel to a XEW-TV repeater as XHTAM-TV. Prior to XHFOX's arrival and before XHRIO took Fox, Lower Rio Grande viewers on the American side received the network from the nationwide Foxnet channel.
In 2007, XHRIO began broadcasting digitally on sister station KNVO's subchannel 48.3, but three years later, after KNVO began airing Univision in HD, XHRIO moved to its own digital channel 2.1.
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