COMING ATTRACTIONS

Congress has taken the first step toward creating a television version of Radio Marti, the U.S. government’s news service beamed to Cuba. Lawmakers included $100,000 in a catch-all spending bill passed last month for a study to determine whether TV broadcasting to Cuba is technically feasible, what it would cost and what legal questions it would pose. Radio Marti officials estimate that about 2 1/2 million of the 10 million people who live in the Communist island nation listen regularly to the radio service named for Cuban patriot Jose Marti. After the study is completed, Congress would have to take further action to put a TV service on the air, which officials hope can be done within two years.