Sunbeam Declares One-Day Truce with DirecTV for NFL Playoff Game

By Andrew Gauthier 

Sunbeam Television has declared a one-day ceasefire in its retrans battle with DirecTV so that WSVN, its Miami Fox-affiliate, can bring Sunday’s NFC championship game to satellite subscribers in South Florida.

“We realize that a lot of our viewers are upset about this whole DirecTV blackout,” WSVN general manager Robert Leider said. “So we decided to air this game this coming weekend that’s going to determine who is going to play in the superbowl.”

Following Sunday’s 6:30 p.m. game between the New York Giants and the San Francisco 49ers, WSVN will remain on DirecTV for a special episode of “American Idol” and the station’s late newscast. After Sunday, WSVN will again go dark on the satellite service.

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Sunbeam’s Boston station, WHDH, has also been pulled from DirecTV but it will remain off the service on Sunday since it will not be carrying an NFL. The NBC-affiliate is scheduled to carry the Super Bowl on February 5th, though.

Sunbeam issued the DirecTV blackout after its previous carriage deal with the company expired on January 13th.

Here’s a WSVN report on the temporary truce…

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