ertainment and society coverage. These acquisitions placed Azcarraga in a strong position to shape the opinions of Spanish-speaking viewers and readers throughout the Americas. Televisa has had a near-monopoly in Mexico that has allowed the network's news coverage to do just that for decades. Azcarraga is friendly with Mexico's top politicians and seems to share their views, and the views expressed in Azcarraga's media empire are almost always pro-government. Azcarraga has extended his reach internationally through the Network of the Stars, a news and musical variety channel offered to local broadcasters in most Spanish-speaking countries, including Spain. Azcarraga has been developing the Network of the Americas to link 22 countries. It seems apparent that Televisa intends to take advantage of its position as the world's largest producer of export programming to fill its newly acquired airwaves.
Televisa has a virtual monopoly on Mexican television and also owns a number of film and recording studios, publishing houses, movie theaters, and radio stations, its power reaching into the remotest areas of Mexico. Though its profits are kept a close secret, Televisa is probably the most powerful private company in Mexico. Half of Mexico's population is functionally, if not entirely, illiterate, but there is one television set
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