Retransmission spat leaves DirecTV, FiOS subscribers without NFL games

Disputes with broadcasters prevented DirecTV (Nasdaq: DTV) from distributing two National Football League playoff games over the weekend to subscribers in Miami, and left about 30,000 Verizon (NYSE: VZ) FiOS TV subscribers in Pennsylvania unable to watch the New England Patriots-Denver Broncos playoff on a CBS affiliate.

While Verizon reached an agreement Sunday night with Newport Television that restored the feeds for local ABC, CBS and Fox affiliates Harrisburg, Pa., and Syracuse and Albany, N.Y., DirecTV still hasn't signed a deal with Sunbeam Television, which operates a Fox affiliate in Miami and an NBC affiliate in Boston. That dispute saw DirecTV subscribers in Miami miss Sunday's Green Bay Packers-New York Giants game on Fox and Saturday's New Orleans Saints-San Francisco 49ers game.

The retransmission-consent dispute between Verizon and Newport Television marked the first time that the telco has lost programming from a local broadcaster because of a contract dispute. The company announced the agreement with Newport Sunday evening, and notified FiOS subscribers through messages posted on its interactive program guide early Monday.

"The new retransmission agreement contains rates and other terms that Verizon believes are reasonable and are in subscribers' best interests," Verizon said in a prepared statement. It didn't disclose how much of an increase in fees it agreed to pay the broadcaster.

DirecTV was hit harder by its dispute with Sunbeam, which promoted some subscribers in Miami to visit sports bars that relied on over-the-air antennas and cable TV to watch the playoff games on Fox, according to local reports. Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) is the incumbent cable provider in Miami. 

Last fall, DirecTV came close to pulling the feeds from national cable networks and regional sports networks owned by Fox Networks Group because of a dispute involving license fees. While DirecTV reached a last-minute deal with Fox that allowed it to continue carrying programming from Fox-owned cable networks and 19 TV stations owned by Fox, the top DBS provider must reach separate retransmission-consent agreements with independent Fox affiliates such as Sunbeam. The spat has also left DirecTV subscribers in Boston without programming from Sunbeam's NBC affiliate WHDH-TV, which saw local subscribers miss Sunday's Golden Globes broadcast on NBC.

"We have no problem compensating Sunbeam fairly, but we have to take a stand against runaway greed and a shameless attempt to extort a more than 300 percent fee increase," DirecTV said in a prepared statement.

The disputes, which have left pay TV subscribers without programming that could be received for free with over-the-air antennas, could help DirecTV, Verizon and other pay TV distributors push the FCC and Congress to reform retransmission-consent regulations.

For more:
- Reuters has this story
- WHDH has this story
- the Sun-Sentinel has this story
- the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has this story

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