DirecTV signs retransmission deal with Sunbeam

Two weeks after Sunbeam Television pulled its TV stations in Boston and Miami from DirecTV (Nasdaq: DTV), the top satellite TV provider said late Thursday that it signed a retransmission-consent deal with the broadcaster. The deal allowed it to restore the feeds for Boston NBC affiliate WHDH-TV and The CW affiliate WLVI-TV, along with Miami Fox affiliate WSVN-TV.

DirecTV had complained that Sunbeam had been pushing it to pay a 300 percent increase in retransmission consent fees, but it didn't say how much of an increase it agreed to. "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," DirecTV said in a prepared statement.

With WHDH set to air NBC's coverage of Super Bowl 46, the dispute had drawn the attention of Massachusetts Sens. John Kerry and Scott Brown, who wanted a guarantee that viewers would be able to see the New England Patriots compete against the New York Giants in the championship game. While it's likely that Sunbeam would've restored its signal for the Super Bowl--as it did for WSVN's broadcast of the NFC Championship game on Fox--Kerry and Brown helped prod DirecTV and Sunbeam to reach a deal.

The dispute drew more attention to the FCC's retransmission-consent rules, and could be cited by advocates as an example for why the rules should be reformed.

For more:
- see DirecTV's statement

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