Known as Channel 8, whose beginnings date back to 1965 when businessman Eugenio Garza Sada, at the helm of Grupo Monterrey, inaugurated the XET-TV station in Monterrey, Nuevo León. The chain operated until 1973, the year in which it merged with its main adversary (Telesistema Mexicano). It was characterized for being the first real competition for Telesistema Mexicano with its innovative and successful programming with series like El Chavo del Ocho and launching personalities like Raúl Velasco and sports commentator José Ramón Fernández. Most of its Telecadena Mexicana affiliates were expropriated by the Mexican Government, when the chain disappeared to form Televisa. In January 1970, Manuel Barbachano Ponce, due to financial problems, decided to affiliate 11 of the 15 Telecadena Mexicana stations to Channel 8, thus forming Televisión Independiente de México or Cadena TIM, thus achieving coverage of 50% of the Mexican territory.