TV Azteca takes over station

Mexican broadcaster TV Azteca took over the facilities of local Mexico City station CNI Channel 40 early Friday amid cries of threats and abuses as the legal dispute between the two stations escalates.

CNI Channel 40 says private armed guards wearing ski masks and black uniforms stormed the station’s transmission facilities before dawn, holding channel employees for several hours and taking over the channel’s signal. TV Azteca confirmed that it had taken over the facilities, saying it was “exercising its rights and in full compliance with the law.”

However, a TV Azteca spokesman said those who took control of the facilities didn’t use violence and weren’t an “armed group,” denying CNI Channel 40’s accusations that its employees were subjected to “insults and threats.”