Alemán

"Alemán had clear reasons to get involved in this new medium and to thwart Azcárraga Vidaurreta. The substantial investments that had been made in U.S. television suggested that the business could be very lucrative—not in the short term, due to the high initial costs, but certainly in the future. As with the newspaper Novedades, acquired in 1946 by Alemán, O’Farrill, and several partners, television could also become a powerful tool for personal propaganda. Moreover, obstructing Azcárraga’s application for a concession allowed Alemán to exact political revenge: in the 1940 elections, when Alemán had been the campaign coordinator for Manuel Ávila Camacho, Azcárraga supported the opposition candidate, Juan Andreu Almazán."

"Nevertheless, it is likely that Alemán’s decision had to do with more than his capitalist convictions. In an academic biography of Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta — forthcoming — Alex Saragoza makes a solid case for the premise that Alemán saw television as a business from which he could benefit personally. It is not a thesis to be dismissed, given that this president’s habits of personal enrichment have been widely known. In the case of television, the possibility of presidential intervention arose from the fact that while Azcárraga applied for a concession in 1946, it was not granted to him until 1950. By contrast, Rómulo O’Farrill, a car dealer in Puebla and a friend of Alemán, received his concession in 1949, one year after applying for it."