Not quite two years ago, we called our readers’ attention to developments on the sponsorship ID front, Spanish-style. What got our attention back then was the fact that the Enforcement Bureau had sent out a number of Letters of Inquiry (LOIs) to a number of Spanish language stations which allegedly had dealings with Univision Music Group (UMG), an entity controlled by Univision Communications, Inc. (UCI). The back-story: a former UMG executive had spread a boatload of specific factual allegations about specific payola-like conduct in a lawsuit filed out in California. Word of those allegations – along with a list of stations allegedly involved in payola-like conduct – had reached the FCC, and the Commission was interested in checking things out for itself.

We concluded that report by pointing out that we didn’t know how long this regulatory telenovela would take to play out, or what the final upshot would be.

We now know.

Univision Radio, Inc. has entered into a Consent Decree with the Enforcement Bureau. No admissions of wrong-doing, mind you, but Univision Radio does agree to make a “voluntary” contribution to the Feds to the tune of $1,000,000. Plus, it agrees to an extensive set of “Compliance Plans” and “Business Reforms” designed to discourage sponsorship ID violations.

URI gets something in return.

The Enforcement Bureau has agreed not to consider any of the alleged messiness in any regulatory context. In other words, no matter how bad the misconduct may have been – and, again, Univision Radio has admitted to no misconduct at all – Univision need not worry about it as far as the FCC is concerned.

Meanwhile, out on the Left Coast, Univision Services, Inc. (the successor-in-interest to UMG) has copped a plea to criminal mail fraud in connection with a scheme “to defraud radio stations”. The fraud involved payments by UMG to various station employees in return for airplay of UMG music; the stations were defrauded because the under-the-table payments meant that the stations could not themselves get those payments in return for airplay which would, theoretically, have been the subject of proper IDs.

While the U.S. Attorney obviously had extensive, compelling evidence of UMG’s guilt, the plea documents make clear that the misconduct was limited to UMG and apparently did not infect the remainder of the extensive UCI operation. According to the plea agreement, “the government’s investigation has not discovered evidence that any officers, directors, or employees of UCI . . . were aware or had reason to be aware of the illegal conduct occurring at UMG.”

So let’s get this straight. Executives and employees of UMG – which is not an FCC licensee and is technically no longer in existence – admitted to making payments in the hope of receiving airplay. And even though there’s apparently no evidence linking that misconduct to others in the Univision organization, it’s still worth $1,000,000 to buy an Invincibility Cloak protecting Univision interests from any further regulatory unpleasantness potentially arising from that misconduct.

As strange as all this sounds, the deal makes sense. Putting an absolute lid on this problem before it metastasizes has considerable value. Since the available evidence of misconduct somewhere in the Univision operation (i.e., chez UMG, in particular) was, it seems, overwhelming, it was probably just a matter of time before petitioners, objectors, and other unfriendlies would start to wield that evidence against Univision’s licenses. As a matter of self-preservation, better to plunk some cash down now, get your immunity, and move on.

It remains to be seen whether the FCC will pursue this matter further against any non-Univision stations whose call signs may have popped up in the investigation. Recall that UMG, the admitted culprit, was accused of spreading pay-for-play cash around a bunch of non-Univision stations. Neither the plea agreement nor the consent decree directly absolves or condemns any other stations (although the plea deal does indicate that the UMG payola scheme was designed to keep other station owners in the dark). But since the matter is still pending at the FCC, those other stations that received LOIs will have to wait and see if this is the end of the matter.