Padilla – CEO On TV Azteca Board.

TV Azteca, S.A. de C.V. announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Pedro Padilla, Chief Operating Officer of Grupo Salinas, as TV Azteca’s new Chief Executive Officer. He succeeds Ricardo B. Salinas, who will remain as Chairman of the Board of TV Azteca, and President and CEO of Grupo Salinas.

Mr. Padilla has been a member of TV Azteca’s Board of Directors since 1993 and is also a member of the company’s Executive Committee. He has held top management posts at Grupo Elektra and Grupo Salinas. Mr. Padilla, who joined Elektra in 1989, was named Chief Financial Officer in 1992 and became the company’s Chief Executive Officer the following year, overseeing Elektra’s IPO. Under Mr. Padilla’s leadership, Elektra’s profitability increased steadily from $30 million EBITDA in 1993 to $250 million last year.

“Pedro Padilla has clearly demonstrated an outstanding ability to direct and grow profitably a major enterprise,” said company Chairman Ricardo B. Salinas. “He played a leading role in our acquisition of TV Azteca from the Mexican government in 1993 and is intimately familiar with the economics of television broadcasting and production. Surrounded by the creative and enterprising team at TV Azteca, we are sure that he can improve operating performance and expand the company’s reach while maintaining the high quality of novelas, news, sports, and entertainment programming for which TV Azteca is known worldwide.”

Mr. Salinas said that turning over the leadership of TV Azteca to Mr. Padilla would give him more time to concentrate on building shareholder value at the Grupo Salinas companies and enable him to focus on providing management with clear mandates for future growth.

In addition to remaining active in his role as Chairman of the Board of Directors of TV Azteca, Mr. Salinas will devote the majority of his time to serving the broader goals of Grupo Salinas in his ongoing role as the group’s President and Chief Executive Officer. As such, he will oversee the Executive Committee comprised of the chief executives of all Grupo Salinas companies and focus on setting long-term strategic goals, defining organizational structure, and on matters of executive compensation, development and staffing throughout the organization.

“The economic future of Mexico turns on the growth of a solid middle class with ready access to the full breadth of new information technologies,” Salinas said. “A strong, equitable credit system for ordinary Mexican families is central to realizing our nation’s economic destiny. Grupo Elektra’s rapid growth confirms that need, but I believe that all of the Grupo Salinas companies can and should play a role in enhancing the quality of life for all Mexicans.”

“I welcome the challenge of sustaining the explosive growth that TV Azteca has enjoyed under Ricardo’s leadership,” Mr. Padilla said. “I believe the new decade holds enormous opportunity for expanding TV Azteca’s influence throughout Mexico and the Americas. Ricardo Salinas has set a very high quality standard for novelas, news, sports and entertainment programming. As CEO of TV Azteca, I am committed to that standard and to building value for our company’s shareholders.”