In 2006, Imagen's parent, Grupo Empresarial Ángeles, acquired XHRAE-TV channel 28 in Mexico City from its previous owner, beleaguered businessman Raúl Aréchiga Espinoza, for US$126 million.
On October 26, 2015, cadenatres was shuttered and replaced with news outlet Excélsior TV as Imagen began preparing to launch its national network.
[2] OEM dropped out unexpectedly just days before the death of its CEO, Mario Vázquez Raña,[3][4] paving the way for Cadena Tres I and GRC to be declared the winning bidders on March 11, 2015.
[7] Imagen's CEO, Olegario Vázquez Aldir, also announced a planned investment of 10 billion pesos to build out the network over 36 to 40 months.
[13] The launch makes Imagen the first new national commercial network to begin operations in Mexico since the privatization of Imevisión and resultant creation of Televisión Azteca in 1993.
[15] The latter was originally known as El Capo (The Drug Lord) but was changed, potentially to prevent a reclassification of the program that would have required it to air after midnight.
[16] The network also picked up two Brazilian telenovelas, José do Egito (Joseph from Egypt) and A Regra do Jogo (Rules of The Game), and the Colombian novela Lady, la vendedora de rosas.
[20][21] The network also has a three-hour morning magazine program, Sale el Sol,[22] hosted by Luz María Zetina, Mauricio Barcelata, Carlos Arenas and Paulina Mercado.
[20][17] It also has the two-hour entertainment news program, De Primera Mano, hosted by Gustavo Adolfo Infante, Mónica Noguera and Michelle Ruvalcaba, launched on July 24, 2017.
[31][32] Imagen Televisión, through Cadena Tres I, S.A. de C.V., is currently authorized to operate 49 main stations and 14 repeaters; in 2018, its transmitters covered 61.72 percent of the population in parts of all Mexican states.
The transmitters launched on air are primarily in state capitals, densely populated cities, and those that contribute most to the national gross domestic product.