THE CELEBRATION
Aztecas main executives walked down the red carpet at 7:00 PM, along with the board of directors from Azteca and Salinas Group, as well as representatives from the government, diplomatic delegations and foreign networks such as Telemundo, Venevision, TV Globo and Telefe, among others. Ricardo B. Salinas Priego, president of Salinas Group arrived in a helicopter which landed in one of the new facilities' helipads. 

The ceremony was hosted by Javier Alatorre and Patricia Champoy, and featured secretary of communications and transport, Dionisio Pérez Jacome who attended of behalf of President Felipe Calderón.

Salinas Priego gave a short speech and highlighted the importance of Azteca Novelas' new endeavor for the group and the Mexican market in general.

"When it comes to privatizations, I believe this is a successful one in every sense of the word. And that must be remembered since there are some people who say the nation was robbed of its property in the process since Azteca was created nineteen years ago," said Salinas Priego. "I believe this is the best example that this is not the case. In this case, a burden was lifted from the people. A new, more dynamic competition was created, which opened new spaces for discussion, information and generated new offers for communication and telenovelas."

The executive also highlighted the fact that now, 19 years after Azteca was created, more than 1,700 hours of drama series are produced a year, not counting sports, entertainment and special events. He stated "producing dramas is very complex and requires the efforts of a great team; you need a highly-qualified team, not only as far as the actors go but also for the technical aspects and production."

In front of 800 guests, Salinas described the new studios as "the new home" of Azteca's talented team. "These new forums represent our commitment to our dream of being the best Hispanic TV in the world. A TV that's always willing to innovate, entertain, inform and connect to its viewers. These studios represent Azteca's plans to continue growing, changing and being the best in these times of intense competition. Azteca is ready to face this industry where online platforms and pay TV networks have a privileged position. That's where content will make a difference. It won't be distribution channels that will make great companies; it will be content. And therefore, these studios will allow us to produce much more content for all those platforms. Production will be done in a world-class environment," he said.

He also described the new facilities as a project that translates into more jobs for highly qualified professionals: "our commitment to our audience will continue to be producing high-quality content within our ethics, and our commitment to our advertisers will continue to be producing integrated content that connects the most important brands in Mexico with the excellent content we produce. And that's why it's with great pleasure that I inaugurate these forums," he concluded. 

After the executive's speech, an institutional video was shown to the evening's guests, followed by spectacular show with fireworks and music. Once that was over, the 800 guests entered the main forum -where the new season of La Academia will be produced- and enjoyed a cocktail party with live shows.