XHILA-TDT

XHILA-TDT (channel 66) is a Spanish-language independent television station in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, serving the Mexicali Valley and the southern Imperial Valley, including El Centro, California, and the Colorado River cities of San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora, and Yuma, Arizona. The station is also carried on the cable television systems of each of the four principal communities it serves.

XHILA-TDT

Mexicali, Baja California– San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora– El Centro, California/Yuma, Arizona Mexico/United States
City	Mexicali, Baja California
Channels	Digital: 20 (UHF) Virtual: 66
Branding	El Canal de las Noticias (The News Channel)
Programming
Affiliations	66.1: Canal 66 (2015–present) 66.2: Canal Catorce 66.3: 2 hour delay of 66.1 66.4: Milenio Television
Ownership
Owner	Grupo Intermedia (Arnoldo Cabada de la O)
History
Founded	1997
First air date	October 1998 (1998-10)
Former call signs	XHILA-TV (1998–2013)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 66 (UHF, 1998–2013) Digital: 46 (UHF, until 2018)
Former affiliations	CNI (to 2005) cadenatres (until 2015)
Technical information
Licensing authority	IFT
ERP	107.490 kW
Translator(s)	K07ZF/K29LS-D (Calexico, California) K33MD-D (Yuma, Arizona) (owned by Broadcast Group, Ltd.)
Links
Website	www.canal66.tv

Taking to air in October 1998, the station is owned by Intermedia de Mexicali, a subsidiary of the Ciudad Juárez-based Grupo Intermedia and is licensed to its president, Arnoldo Cabada de la O.

History

XHILA's prior logo, used through 2008.

XHILA-TV began with experimental broadcasts in 1997, then began broadcasting commercially in October 1998. It has been owned since its inception by Intermedia de Mexicali, airing independent programming during the day, and (originally) news from CNI at night.

From 2008 to 2015, XHILA became affiliated with Mexico's newest broadcast network, cadenatres.

Dismissal of Gustavo Macalpin

On October 7, 2024, Gustavo Macalpin, host of the political satire program Ciudadano 2.0, was fired on air by the channel's director, Luis Arnoldo Cabada Alvídrez. Initially, Macalpin thought Cabada would participate in a sketch. However, Cabada started by thanking Macalpin for his six years in charge of the program, only to later inform him that his time at the company was ending. Macalpin accepted the dismissal and continued working on his final broadcast. Cabada's actions faced negative criticism, and Macalpin described them as intimidating and humiliating. Macalpin had made criticisms of multiple Morena politicians, the ruling party of Mexico, including Marina del Pilar Ávila Olmeda, the governor of Baja California, her husband, Carlos Alberto Torres Torres, as well as Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the president of Mexico from 2018 to 2024, his children, and Claudia Sheinbaum, the incoming president. Ávila expressed her surprise at the news and wished him success in future projects. Sheinbaum commented that the manner of his dismissal was inappropriate if it was due to censorship.

Programming

XHILA-TDT targets both sides of the U.S.–Mexican border. XHILA-TDT provides local information, news shows and variety programs for viewers along with a schedule of movies, comedies and programs of interest.

In 2015, Intermedia signed a contract with the Sistema Público de Radiodifusión del Estado Mexicano to carry its Una Voz con Todos network on its stations in Mexicali and Ciudad Juárez. This marks the first time that Mexicali has ever had national public television service.

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of XHILA-TDT

Channel	Res.	Aspect	Short name	Programming
66.1	1080i	16:9	XHILA	Main XHILA-TDT programming
66.2	480i	4:3		Canal Catorce
66.3		16:9		2 hour delay of 66.1
66.4		4:3		Milenio Televisión

Analog shutdown

Under Mexican law, XHILA would have been required to turn off its analog signal on November 26, 2013 (a date that has since been postponed), but XHILA opted to switch early, seeking and winning approval from Cofetel to shut down early.

On March 6, 2013 at 11:30 p.m., XHILA turned off its analog signal. It was the first television station in Mexicali to do so and the second in Mexico, after XHUNAM-TDT went digital-only in 2005.

In March 2018, in order to facilitate the repacking of TV services out of the 600 MHz band (channels 38-51), XHILA was assigned channel 20 for continued digital operations, however, the station did not perform the repack until November 27, making it the last station in Mexicali to do so after XHBC-TDT, XHMEX-TDT and XHMEE-TDT repacked in July 2017.

U.S. translators

Broadcast Group, Ltd., an American company which is controlled by the Cabada family, owns two translators in the United States that relay XHILA.

In Yuma, the analog translator was low-powered K28FM. At various times in its history, it was affiliated with musical networks such as Más Música and MTV Tr3s, and at others it rebroadcast XHILA. K28FM, in effect, was the first American affiliate of cadenatres as it relayed XHILA when it took on the affiliation in 2008. In the late 2000s, K28FM went silent; in 2015, K33MD-D, a digital translator also owned by Broadcast Group, was put into service. The license for K28FM was cancelled by the Federal Communications Commission on July 19, 2021.

In Calexico, K07ZF channel 7 was the analog translator. Given that the digital transition of XHILA's Mexicali transmitter led to a loss of viewership, channel 7 was promoted as XHILA's analog channel. In 2015, K42KZ-D, also owned by Broadcast Group, was signed on.

Both the Yuma and Calexico transmitters relay XHILA, including all of its subchannels.

K42KZ-D was assigned channel 29 in order to clear the 600 MHz band, and became K29LS-D effective November 3, 2021.

External links

• Station website
• Facility details for Facility ID 185530 (K29LS-D) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
• Facility details for Facility ID 188113 (K33MD-D) in the FCC Licensing and Management System