XEPM-TDT explained

Callsign:XEPM-TDT
Location:Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua/El Paso, Texas/
Las Cruces, New Mexico
Mexico/United States
City:Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua
Branding:Las Estrellas
(The Stars)
Digital:29 (UHF)
Virtual: 2
Subchannels:2.1/2.2 Las Estrellas HD
Affiliations:Las Estrellas
Callsign Meaning:XE Pedro Meneses
Sister Stations:XHJCI-TDT, XHJUB-TDT
Former Callsigns:XEPM-TV (1960s-2015)
Former Channel Numbers:2 (analog, 1961-2015)
32 (digital virtual, 2015-16)
Owner:Grupo Televisa
Licensee:Televimex, S.A. de C.V.
Former Affiliations:Las Estrellas (1961-2005)
Canal 5 (2005-2007)
Televisa Regional (2007-2015)
Erp:200 kW
Haat:1490NaN0 (digital)
Coordinates:31.7098°N -106.4939°W

XEPM-TDT is a television station in Ciudad Juárez owned by Televisa. Broadcasting on physical channel 29 and virtual channel 2, XEPM carries Las Estrellas programming.

History

XEPM received its concession in June 1960 and came on air on January 16, 1961. The station was named by original concessionaire Sergio R. Molinar Fernández in honor of Pedro Meneses, the husband of Molinar's sister Beatriz. Meneses started XEJ-TV in 1951.

In 1972, XEPM was sold to Telesistema del Norte, S.A. Telesistema del Norte was a wholly owned subsidiary of Telesistema Mexicano, which within a year of buying XEPM changed its name to Televisa. Under Televisa it has relayed the Las Estrellas and Canal 5 networks, and from 2007 to 2015 it was Televisa's local station for Juárez. In 1994, Telesistema del Norte merged into Canales de Televisión Populares, another Televisa subsidiary. In 2018, the concessions of all Las Estrellas stations were consolidated in the concessionaire Televimex, S.A. de C.V., as part of a corporate reorganization of Televisa's concessionaires.

In August 2015, XEPM and XHJCI swapped virtual channels and networks. XHJCI took on the virtual channel 2 and the local programming. XEPM's transmitter began carrying virtual channel 32 and Las Estrellas. XEPM returned to channel 2 in October 2016 when all transmitters of the Las Estrellas network moved to that virtual channel.

Digital television

XEPM began broadcasting in digital on October 13, 2012. The station broadcasts on physical channel 29 and has two subchannels:

VC Video Aspect Callsign Network Programming
2.1 XEPM Las Estrellas Main XEPM-TV programming
2.2 XEPM Las Estrellas "Las Estrellas El Paso", a feed with El Paso commercials

The analog signal was turned off, along with those of the other stations in Juárez, on July 14, 2015.

In 2016, the station began to carry Las Estrellas El Paso, a feed of the Las Estrellas network which allows cross-border advertisers in El Paso to purchase commercial time for their own ads, and is taken by American cable providers who elect to carry XEPM-TDT.