In 2025, 86.1% of Mexicans aged six and over used the internet, while free-to-air television reached 49.1%—a 12-percentage-point decline from 2020. As more audiences go online, a small number of owners still control broadcasting and newspapers, while a new government commission oversees telecoms and broadcasting rules.
Audiences Move Online; Ownership Remains Concentrated
INEGI reported that 104.9 million people aged six and over used the internet in 2025. Access stood at 88.9% in cities and 75.2% in rural areas. ENDUTIH, the annual household technology survey, found internet access in 78.3% of households, twice the 39.1% recorded in 2015. Mobile phones were used by 84.6% of people aged six and over.
Smartphones connect many users. Among their users, 80.4% accessed social networks and 90.6% used messaging apps. Mobile phone use rose 2.9 percentage points between 2024 and 2025, while the share watching free-to-air television fell 4 points. Viewers watched an average of 2.1 hours of free-to-air television a day. Radio reached 29.8% of the population, and streaming services were available in 36.4% of households.
Yet the shift in how people get information hasn't dispersed media ownership. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says Televisa and TV Azteca dominate broadcasting and describes Mexico as one of the world's most concentrated media markets. RSF also says Organización Editorial Mexicana (OEM) dominates the newspaper sector; the group owns, according to RSF, 32 dailies, 24 radio stations and 45 websites.
Grupo Televisa now focuses mainly on pay-TV and broadband, operating the izzi cable network and Sky satellite service. At the end of 2025, it reported 15.5 million residential paid services and 3.8 million satellite ones. TelevisaUnivision runs free-to-air channels including Las Estrellas, with Grupo Televisa as its largest shareholder; it also owns Univision, TUDN and the ViX streaming service.
TV Azteca belongs to Grupo Salinas, the business group Ricardo Salinas Pliego created. Its March 2026 profile lists four national channels carried on more than 300 local stations. In July 2026, a federal judge declared the company in concurso mercantil after it requested court-supervised debt restructuring. The filing listed 1,970 debts worth 23.3 billion pesos. The company has also sought U.S. court recognition of its Mexican restructuring under Chapter 15. Creditors may gain control of the network or its concessions, but the outcome remains open.
Government Rules and Audience Oversight
A telecoms and broadcasting law published on 16 July 2025 created the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (CRT), replacing the Federal Telecommunications Institute. The CRT operates as an administrative body under the Digital Transformation and Telecommunications Agency, the federal department responsible for telecommunications policy. The law grants the commission technical and operational independence, and President Sheinbaum named Norma Solano Rodríguez as its chair.
In August 2026, the CRT approved audience-rights rules, including separation of news from opinion and responses to viewer complaints. Solano rejected censorship claims and said repeat offenders face fines of 0.1% to 1% of annual revenue. The commission also runs a mandatory registry linking each mobile line to its registered user. On 5 October 2026, it reported temporarily suspending 2,248,143 lines ending in the digit 3 that hadn't completed registration. How strictly the CRT will enforce the rules, or whether it will act independently of the government, remains unclear.
Pressures on Reporting
President Claudia Sheinbaum regularly holds the televised morning press conference Mañanera del Pueblo, where reporters question her live and cabinet members often present policy. Its “El Detector de Mentiras” segment rebuts reports the government calls false. In May 2026, Sheinbaum announced the segment would expand into a weekly afternoon program. TV Azteca accused her of urging Mexicans not to watch it and called the move an attempt to censor critical media.
Mexico's constitution guarantees press freedom, yet RSF ranks the country 122nd of 180 countries in its 2026 World Press Freedom Index. Article 19 has documented 181 journalists killed since 2000 in possible connection with their work. RSF counted eight journalists killed in Mexico in 2026 as of early October. On 9 October, gunmen killed Hamurabi Huesca Manzano, director of Pinotepa Comunica, in Oaxaca. Prosecutors said the attack presumably targeted a local crime figure. RSF says collusion between local officials and organized crime threatens reporters. It counts 28 journalists missing since 2000 and says no law guarantees a fair and transparent distribution of government advertising.