Sunbeam said that despite not having a reached a retrans deal yet, it will let the satellite provider carry its Miami Fox affiliate’s coverage of the New York Giants-San Francisco 49ers game this Sunday at 6:30 p.m. as well as the pre-game show at 6 p.m., the post-game show, American Idol and a late edition of its local news that night.
RETRANS WARS: DMA 16 (MIAMI)
WSVN To Air NFC Championship On DirecTV
Sunbeam Television’s Fox affiliate WSVN Miami (DMA 16) announced Thursday that it will allow DirecTV to carry the New York Giants-San Francisco 49ers game this Sunday at 6:30 p.m. DirecTV viewers will also be able to watch the pre-game show at 6 p.m., the post-game show, American Idol and a late edition of 7 News that night.
“WSVN-TV is still negotiating with DirecTV, but we care about our viewers, and we want them to be able to watch this game, which will determine who goes to the Super Bowl,” said Robert Leider, EVP-general manager of WSVN.
“Sunbeam Television Corp., the parent company of WSVN-TV, has recently had successful retransmission negotiations with several cable providers. DirecTV’s unwillingness to pay a reasonable fee to carry our signal is unfortunate,” Leider continued.
“Throughout our negotiations with DirecTV, we have merely been asking for established market rates. DirecTV is a multi-billion dollar company that takes advantage of a small company like ours. DirecTV is offering us far less than what they are paying other TV stations. They say we’re asking for a 300% percent increase. That’s totally misleading.
“A few years ago DirecTV was paying us nothing. Now we are asking for only a few cents a day. Fox receives half of that, and we need to keep them satisfied to maintain our affiliate relationship. Meanwhile cable channels with far less viewers receive far more compensation from DirecTV,” Leider added.
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