Azteca América (, sometimes shortened to Azteca) was an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by INNOVATE Corp., which acquired the network from the Azteca International Corporation subsidiary of TV Azteca. Headquartered in New York City, the network's programming was aimed at the Hispanic and Latin American communities in the United States and had access to programming from TV Azteca's three television national networks in Mexico, including a library with over 200,000 hours of original programming and news content from local bureaus in 32 Mexican states. Its programming consisted of a mix of telenovelas, drama series, news programming, and reality and variety series. Azteca was available on pay television (primarily carried on dedicated Spanish language programming tiers, except in some markets with a free-the-air affiliate), with local stations in over 60 markets with large Hispanic and Latin American populations (reaching 89% of the Hispanic population in the U.S. The network's former flagship station KAZA-TV in Los Angeles (until January 2018) was the highest-rated station in Azteca's portfolio. On December 31, 2022, Azteca América ceased all operations. History The network was formed through a programming alliance between Mexico-based broadcaster TV Azteca and Visalia, California-based television station owner Pappas Telecasting Companies announced on September 8, 2000; the two companies planned to launch a new Spanish language broadcast network during the second quarter of 2001, that would act as a competitor to established networks Univision and Telemundo. TV Azteca, which planned to own 20% of the network, contributed an exclusive programming agreement in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, while Pappas, which owned a majority 80% interest, planned to have stations it owned in ten markets – three already owned by the network, and seven that Pappas was in the process of acquiring in Nevada, Arizona and Texas (most of which were low-power stations) – serve as charter stations of the network, which was originally named Azteca América. Pappas and Azteca invested close to $500 million to start up the network, with an additional $450 million allocated for station acquisitions and a $129 million loan made by TV Azteca to Pappas. The network hoped to reach 65% to 70% of the Hispanic population in the U.S. by 2002. TV Azteca, which was formed in 1993, launched the network to capitalize on its success with its two television stations in Mexico City – XHDF-TV (channel 13) and XHIMT-TV (channel 7), respectively branded as