The FCC kicked off a wide-ranging payola investigation of Spanish-language radio stations, said broadcast lawyers familiar with the probe. The agency asked stations to report on their dealings with Latin label Univision Music, they said. The inquiry seems to have been sparked by a former Univision executive’s 2006 suit against the label in California Superior Court in Los Angeles, they said.

Commissioners are likely soon to approve an order that clarifies a requirement that digital TV stations must pass along to viewers all captions from programming providers, said several agency officials. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has said he wants a vote on the order at or by the Nov. 4 meeting (CD Oct 15 p4) and put it on the preliminary agenda. But members intent on addressing higher-profile items are likely not to wait until the meeting to approve that order and another to allow use of distributed transmission systems (CD Oct 23 p4) for digital broadcasts, the agency officials said.

The largest simulated cutoff of analog TV signals “went well,” though it elicited several thousand calls from viewers with DTV questions, said the organizer of the analog soft cutoff in San Francisco (CD Oct 22 p2). Eighteen stations participated in the DTV educational effort -- more than any other simulation so far -- and about 2,500 total calls came into the Bay Area’s social services hotline, a toll-free number run by broadcasters and the FCC’s DTV help line, said KGO General Manager Valari Staab. That’s less than Staab’s worst-case scenario in which 10,000 over-the-air viewers would have phoned in (CD Oct 21 p2). The FCC “reported busy traffic for 30 minutes and then manageable traffic,” said Staab. The FCC’s call center got 258 calls, said an agency spokeswoman. Comcast, working with stations in the cutoff, got 659 calls, said Staab. Frequent requests among all callers were for information on NTIA’s digital converter box coupons and for technical help with the boxes and questions on “signal issues,” she said. Bay Area broadcasters briefly will simulate analog cutoffs the first week in December, the second week in January and the first week of February, said Staab.

The FCC seems likely to approve a draft order letting broadcasters spread smaller antennas throughout their coverage areas to improve digital TV reception, commission officials said. The proposal to approve the use of distributed transmission systems for digital broadcasts (CD Oct 16 p4) doesn’t seem contentious among the commissioners, and it may be approved on circulation before the Nov. 4 meeting, they said. Broadcasters support use of the technology, though there are possible technical hurdles to wide use, three industry executives said. No outside objections to the technology appear to have recently been brought to the attention of commissioners, agency officials said.

Stations in many more cities will simulate an end to analog broadcasts in coming months, emulating Wilmington, N.C., San Francisco and other locales, industry executives said. New York is among major cities to set a test analog cutoff, arranging one for Tuesday during the evening news at many of the 13 participating stations.

Stations in many more cities will simulate an end to analog broadcasts in coming months, emulating Wilmington, N.C., San Francisco and other locales, industry executives said. New York is among major cities to set a test analog cutoff, arranging one for Tuesday during the evening news at many of the 13 participating stations.

Almost all the full-power San Francisco broadcasters will briefly simulate a cutoff of analog TV signals Tuesday evening in the largest such test yet, said executives of stations in the market. Eighteen stations in the Bay Area will interrupt regular programming at 6:15 p.m. Pacific time, in the middle of the evening news for many, they said. The soft analog cutoff will last one to two minutes. Information on the digital TV transition will come before, after, and during the newscasts. Other large cities are considering similar cutoffs (CD Oct 17 p4). The tests are supported by FCC commissioners and members of a commission panel dealing with DTV.

Perhaps the most unique way the FCC has unveiled to tell Americans of the DTV transition drew mixed reaction. The CEA, NAB and two members of an FCC advisory committee said the agency seems to be wisely spending the $20 million Congress gave it for DTV education by paying $350,000 to sponsor a NASCAR driver (CD Oct 17 p10). They also supported the commission’s deal with AARP to spend $1 million to run ads in four magazine editions. But a third member of the FCC Consumer Advisory Committee and two marketing professors were skeptical of the NASCAR deal, saying the race car will have little visibility with racegoers or those watching the three races on TV.

Support is growing for a digital TV transition educational effort in which stations use analog signals run a fixed image telling viewers they need to take action. The method began in the first market to switch to DTV (CD Sept 5 p3). FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein told us the idea may have merit, and several broadcast executives think stations would do it if authorized by the agency. But the executives and FCC members said it’s unclear if current law allows broadcast of so-called analog slates after Feb. 17. Commissioner Robert McDowell and others said new legislation may be needed. In some instances, slates would have to run in 700 MHz spectrum that the FCC has auctioned.

There was disappointment all around Wednesday at the FCC and among low-power broadcasters over the scuttling of a DTV- related item (CD Oct 15 p1) that could have paved the way for 500-plus TV stations to demand cable carriage. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, Commissioner Robert McDowell and other top agency officials said they were disappointed at the collapse of the rulemaking notice -- albeit for different reasons. The stall disappointed low-power broadcast executives, who feel the item would have helped small minority-owned stations survive full-power outlets’ digital TV transition by getting cable carriage.