Sunbeam Threatens DirecTV with Blackout

By Andrew Gauthier 

If Sunbeam Television, which owns WSVN in Miami and WHDH in Boston, doesn’t reach a new retrans agreement with DirecTV before the end of the day, Friday, its stations will be pulled from the satellite TV service.

“If negotiations aren’t successful,” a WSVN spokeswoman told the Miami Herald, “you won’t be able to receive Channel 7 on DirecTV after Jan. 13th.”

Faced with Sunbeam’s threat of a blackout, DirecTV released a statement this week saying that the company has “no problem compensating Sunbeam fairly.”

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“We enjoy strong relationships with all of the other stations licensed to serve these communities,” DirecTV emphasized.

WSVN and WHDH have posted messages on their websites alerting viewers to the deadline, while pointing out that their programming will still be available over the air and on other cable and satellite providers.

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