Sunbeam caves to DirecTV, will let subscribers watch NFC Championship game

Facing a potential revolt from DirecTV (Nasdaq: DTV) subscribers who could've missed Sunday's NFC Championship game on Miami Fox affiliate WSFN-TV, parent Sunbeam Television agreed to temporarily restore its signal during the playoff game.

It's a highly unusual move from Sunbeam, which pulled the feeds of its stations in Miami and Boston from DirecTV on Jan. 13 after it refused to agree to its terms for a new retransmission-consent deal. By allowing DirecTV to carry the game, Sunbeam is giving up its strongest bargaining chip.

It's likely that Sunbeam, which has also threatened to withhold the feed from NBC's coverage of Super Bowl 46 on Boston affiliate WHDH-TV, will also allow DirecTV to carry that game as well.

DirecTV has said that Sunbeam is demanding a 300 percent increase in its retransmission-consent fees. In an interview with one his own reporters, WSVN-TV EVP and GM Robert Leider insists the broadcaster isn't demanding a significant fee for its programming.

"Fundamentally we're asking for pennies. If you go from one cent to two cents, it's 100 percent," Leider said.

Sunbeam plans to pull the plug on its WSVN feed from DirecTV at the conclusion of the NFC Championship game. Leider and Sunbeam may be sending a mixed message with its decision to withhold all other station programming than the NFC game from DirecTV subscribers, including its own local news programming. Subscribers could interpret that decision as the station and Sunbeam viewing all of its programming as dispensable, except for NFL championship games.

For more:
- WSVN has this story

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