EL TIGRE

It was refreshing to read the bold piece about Emilio Azcarraga and Televisa (“El Tigre,” by Marjorie Miller and Juanita Darling, Nov. 10). During the early 1980s, I worked as co-executive producer and director of operations for a Televisa subsidiary, International Videofilms. The Televisa powers arrogantly and blindly, without adequate market research, decided to spend several millions of dollars to dub into English a half-dozen of their long-running Spanish language soaps.

The project was a total failure. Mexican TV viewers have negligible choices and Televisa can dictate their third-class productions to the viewer whose only other choice is to watch U.S. programming on cable (also owned and operated by Televisa). I was happy to learn that Televisa, for the first time, will likely be faced with some serious competition if U.S. broadcasters move south of the border. Free trade may bring quality to Mexican TV programming, something much feared by Televisa.

DREW MICHAELS

Encino