After reading some articles from the Orlando Sentinel, it's not just Orlando, it's with the owner Hearst Television and they're in 26 markets. AT&T the owners of Directv say they have to deal with 1800 local television stations and have already completed about 100 of these type deals since they took ownership without problems.
They are speculating the NFL Playoff game on Saturday night might speed up the situation. The ABC station came back in one day just in time to broadcast the Florida Gators in the Outback Bowl. With Sunday Night NFL Football, the game before the blackout of Denver and Kansas City drew 225,509 viewers in the Orlando market. Last Sunday during the blackout the Green Bay and Detroit game only drew 127,976 viewers even though it was to decide the division winner. In addition to the playoff game on Saturday night, on Sunday night NBC will have the Golden Globe Awards with Jimmy Fallon as host.
Directv is prohibited by law of broadcasting local stations without their permission. Directv has asked Hearst Television several times if they could carry the channels while negotiations are going on, but they have continued to refuse the request.
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