DirecTV, Sunbeam reach agreement
Sunbeam Television, which owns WHDH-TV (Channel 7) and WLVI-TV (Channel 56), and satellite provider DirecTV reached an agreement last night over retransmission fees. Sunbeam stations are now available on DirecTV in Boston and its Fox affiliate in Miami.
The dispute had threatened to keep the Super Bowl off DirecTV televisions in Boston.
“Negotiations were difficult, but we are pleased with the outcome,’’ said Chris Wayland, WHDH-TV general manager in a statement. “We are especially delighted that all our viewers will now be able to see NBC’s telecast of the Super Bowl as well as our own extensive coverage from Indianapolis.”
DirecTV officials released this statement: “We are pleased to have reached an agreement to end the Sunbeam blackout, and regret that any of our customers were forced into the middle of a business dispute where they should never have been in the first place. We believe, like many, the public interest is best served by allowing customers to keep their local broadcast stations as we negotiate future agreements, rather than being denied access by broadcast stations and used as leverage in what should be a private business matter.”
The dispute left about 200,000 DirecTV subscribers in the Boston TV market without access to NBC and the CW network programming. WHDH, the NBC affiliate in Boston, will broadcast the Super Bowl, so without an agreement, those people would not have been able to see the game.
