Las Estrellas

Overview

Las Estrellas is a Mexican free-to-air television network and the flagship channel of TelevisaUnivision, the world’s largest Spanish-language media company. Broadcasting nationally from Mexico City, it is one of Mexico’s most-watched channels and a household name throughout the Spanish-speaking world. Its schedule centres on telenovelas, entertainment, news and major live events, and its programming is distributed internationally across the Americas, Europe and beyond.

History

The channel traces its origins to XEW-TV Channel 2, which began broadcasting in Mexico City in 1951 as one of the country’s pioneering television stations, founded by the broadcasting entrepreneur Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta. It became the core network of Telesistema Mexicano and later of Televisa, and for decades was known as “El Canal de las Estrellas” — the channel of the stars — a name reflecting its role as the home of Mexico’s biggest television personalities. The brand was modernised to Las Estrellas in 2016, and the channel became part of TelevisaUnivision following the 2022 merger of Televisa’s media assets with Univision.

Programming

Las Estrellas is synonymous with the telenovela. Productions first broadcast on the channel — among them classics such as Los ricos también lloran, Rosa salvaje and María la del Barrio — were exported worldwide and helped define the genre internationally. Prime time remains built around original telenovelas, complemented by reality and competition formats, comedy, variety shows and national newscasts. The channel also carries major live events, including coverage of Mexican football and end-of-year specials that are fixtures of the national calendar.

Significance

As the descendant of Mexico’s foundational television station, Las Estrellas occupies a singular place in Latin American media history. It turned Mexican telenovelas into one of the world’s most successful cultural exports, launched generations of stars, and for decades functioned as the shared prime-time experience of Mexican families. Within TelevisaUnivision’s transnational operation, the channel continues to supply flagship content for audiences in Mexico, the United States and the wider Spanish-speaking world, sustaining its influence in the streaming era through the ViX platform.