As is the case with Clear Channel, blamed by critics for reducing radio's diversity and dumbing down its programming, Univision's brand of programming has also come under fire. One New Times Los Angeles critic dubbed its Spanish-language diet of breathless novellas, or soap operas, imported from Latin America, as "the dumbest, cheapest, most prurient TV programming imaginable." And like Clear Channel, or "Cheap Channel" as it's sometimes known in the radio industry, Univision is known for being tightfisted. Three years ago employees at the company's Fresno television station staged a hunger strike to protest their low wages; the news anchorman for the most-watched telecast in Fresno was making $32,000, or roughly one-third of what his Anglo counterparts in town were earning.

Some advertisers and music industry players, after having witnessed the radical changes Clear Channel has worked on the radio landscape, have a foreboding sense of déjà vu as they prepare for the Univision/HBC merger. "We've already seen this with the Clear Channel model," laments Liza Santana, who runs Creativas, a boutique ad agency in Miami. "It's basically a monopoly. If you want to buy outdoor advertising, it's Clear Channel. Radio, it's Clear Channel. Posters on bus shelters, concerts, event marketing? It's Clear Channel and it's their way or the highway."

As for the reach Univision would have in the Spanish language market once the HBC deal gets FCC approval, "We're talking about an integrated animal, literally," says Santana. "It's scary for me. The capacity for Univision is just huge. And it's permanent, so the consequences of anything negative happening will be permanent as well."

There's also some fear in the Latin music industry that by grabbing HBC -- the largest player in Spanish-language radio -- Univision will end up with too much star-making power. The company hasn't been shy about marrying its Univision recording artists with its Univision TV shows. The most obvious example featured the previously unknown Univision singer Jennifer Peña who sang the official theme song to the 2002 World Cup soccer tournament broadcasts, which attracted tens of millions of Univision viewers. The saturation coverage she received helped launch Peña's album and career.

"It's pretty basic. She became a star because that commercial ran every 20 minutes throughout the tournament," says Jesse Rodriquez, founder of Bandidoradio.com, an online tejano radio station. The addition of HBC's stable of radio stations to the Univision empire "will be a blessing for artists signed to Univision," says Rodriguez. "But for independent labels and artists, they're going to be playing second fiddle trying to get radio airplay."

A Univision spokeswoman acknowledged that there will be obvious cross-promotional opportunities to expose its artists on TV and radio commercials, but insisted the company will not add acts to HBC's playlist simply because they record on a Univision label. "The HBC stations are going to play the No. 1 act on Billboard's Latin music charts, whether they're on Univision or on other labels. It's not going to jeopardize ratings or ad sales -- it will not compromise stations themselves -- just in order to promote Univision artists."

"We have to take Univision at their word and assume they're going to remain independent," says John Whipple, executive vice president of Tejas Records in San Antonio, Texas. "If it got to where they gave Univision artists preference, that would be horrible because it wouldn't be a level playing field."

That's why there's a reluctance to speak out. "Some of the artists are concerned about the merger, but none of them want their names used," says Renteria, at Hispanic Americans for Fairness in Media. "They're concerned about their ability to keep working if something goes wrong with their relationship with Univision."

Such a sentiment will sound familiar to artists and managers in the English-language music business who have shied away from publicly criticizing Clear Channel for fear of economic repercussions.

When the merger plans were first announced last June, executives at both Univision and HBC were hoping for formal government approval by the end of the 2002 calendar year. They had good reason to expect swift passage, since "the FCC has really become a deregulatory agency," says Gutierrez. Yet today, with the one-year anniversary of the deal's announcement quickly approaching, there's still no green light from the FCC. (The Department of Justice did sign off on a consent decree, provided Univision divests itself from certain television properties in order to avoid the possibility of a monopoly.) Merger watchers expect a decision any day, but that's been the case for weeks now.

Univision and Clear Channel aren't just similar corporations looking to grab near-monopoly control of their markets. If the merger goes through, Clear Channel will have a significant stake in the entity. Clear Channel is HBC's largest shareholder, controlling 26 percent of its stock. Clear Channel insists it's only a passive investor with no controlling interest over the country's largest Spanish-language radio broadcaster, but critics say that's just not true, and that behind the scenes hard-charging Clear Channel, not known for its passive management style, has taken an active role in HBC, including steering station sales and influencing internal financial matters at HBC. That's reason enough, they say, for the FCC to veto the merger.

In its filing with the commission, the National Hispanic Policy Institute argues its case in part by pointing to annual employment reports, the kind every broadcaster must file with the FCC. The NHPI notes it was Clear Channel's corporate counsel -- not HBC's -- who, under the penalty of perjury, certified information for several HBC stations. Despite being an officer at a company that's a passive investor, "[He] apparently believes that as Clear Channel corporate counsel he has the authority to prepare, execute and file these [FCC] forms on the behalf of HBC," noted the NHPI.

HBC answered the allegation by informing the FCC the confusion stemmed from a glitch in Clear Channel's database and it was a "simple mistake -- nothing more." The NHPI shot back, "Clear Channel's mistake was in truthfully identifying and listing each station at which Clear Channel had employees, without first considering which stations it secretly owned or operated in a prohibited manner."

And then there's the antitrust lawsuit filed by Spanish Broadcasting System, HBC's main competitor. Angry that a deal fell through to merge the two Spanish-language radio companies, SBS filed charges the day the Univision/HBC deal was announced. Earlier this year a judge ruled that even if the facts of the allegation were true, SBS couldn't prove Clear Channel had created a monopoly in violation of the Sherman Act. He dismissed the case, although his ruling is being appealed.

Some of SBS's more outlandish accusations against Clear Channel have stuck, though. For instance, SBS charged that just as it was preparing its 1999 IPO with Lehman Brothers as its co-leading underwriter, Clear Channel's CFO Randall Mays (Lowry Mays' son) called a Lehman Brothers executive and warned her that SBS's CEO, the Cuban-born Raul Alarcon, Jr., was a "drug user and/or trafficker."

During his deposition earlier this year, Mays admitted he had called the banker to tell her he'd heard a rumor that Alarcon had used drugs, but that he did not mention trafficking: "I said, look, I heard something that I didn't know if it was true, that there was something in the public domain where Raul admitted to using drugs." Mays denied the charge that relaying the unsubstantiated rumor was an effort to get Lehman to withdraw from SBS's IPO. He did admit though, that he was unhappy that Lehman was handling SBS's public offering. Again, critics ask, if Clear Channel is simply a passive investor in HBC, why does it care who handles the IPO for HBC's competitor?

That might all be moot soon. "I can't see the FCC ruling against the merger," says America Rodriguez, professor at the department of radio, television, film and journalism at the University of Texas, who's concerned about the future of Spanish-language media if it ends up controlled by Univision. "We deserve to have more than one voice. One is not a choice."

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