Univision agrees to pay $1 million in payola settlement with Justice Department, FCC

Univision agrees to pay $1M in payola settlement

WASHINGTON — Univision has agreed to pay $1 million to settle allegations that the company’s radio stations and its employees accepted secret cash payments from a former Univision recording label to give more frequent airplay to the label’s artists.

The Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department announced separate settlements of the “payola” — or pay-for-play — charges with the Spanish-language Univision Communications Inc. late Monday.

The agencies had charged that from 2002 to 2006, Univision Music, a Spanish-language recording label, bribed program managers at stations owned by Univision Radio to play certain Spanish-language artists without disclosing those payments to the public.