Advanced Television

DirecTV switches WHDH Boston back on

August 15, 2016

By Chris Forrester

Satellite subscribers to DirecTV in and around the Boston area can now watch NBC’s affiliate station WHDH. The long running ‘blackout’ spat between DirecTV and WHDH Channel 7’s owners Sunbeam Television Corp ended on August 12th.

The Boston station had gone dark a month ago in mid-July when DirecTV and Sunbeam failed to agree retransmission terms. “We are pleased that we were able to negotiate a new agreement so that DirecTV customers can once again view 7News, this week’s Olympic events, and all of the other network and local programming on WHDH and WLVI,” WHDH VP Paul Magnes said in a statement. WLVI was another Sunbeam station in Boston affected by the dispute.

A sub-text to the dispute concerned the fees the station will be able to charge when in 2017 it ends its affiliation with NBC. Terms of the agreement were not revealed.

“We never stopped negotiating,” said Kate Mackinnon, a spokeswoman for DirecTV parent company AT&T. “We’re really glad Sunbeam decided to bring these two stations back to our customers.”

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