Many Panthers, NBA fans could be left in dark if new TV agreement not reached

Disaster was narrowly and at least temporarily averted for many South Florida-based Panthers fans late Friday night when DirecTV and WPLG-ABC’s parent company mutually agreed to a deadline extension in carriage rights negotiations and delay the removal of the station from tens of thousands of South Florida homes.

Shortly after 5:30 p.m. on Friday, WPLG-ABC 10 informed viewers on its web site -- and on its newscasts -- that the station would “go off the air” at 11:59 p.m. Friday night (this weekend) for homes with DirecTV and AT&T U-verse, barring a new “deal or [deadline] extension.”

The sides agreed on a late-night extension Friday, ensuring that ABC’s coverage of Game 6 of the Panthers-Rangers NHL playoff series would be televised in all South Florida TV households on Saturday night.

Bert Medina, the president of WPLG, told The Miami Herald via e-mail on Saturday morning that “in a good faith effort, we have agreed to an extension for negotiations to continue until Wednesday, June 5 at 12 noon. It is our sincere expectation that a deal can be finalized without interruption to our community.”

A DirecTV spokesperson said in a statement that “we are working with Berkshire Hathaway, the owner of WPLG-ABC, to continue to make the station available. Consumers must have more flexibility and control over the channels they watch and the price they pay, and we will continue to ensure our Miami customers have those capabilities.”

The new June 5 deadline date is important, because ABC will televise the entire Boston-Dallas NBA Finals beginning Thursday night, June 6.

All Stanley Cup Finals games also will be televised on ABC beginning Saturday, June 8.

The Panthers entered Game 6 of their series against the Rangers with a 3-2 lead and needing one win to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals. ESPN would carry a Game 7, if necessary, on Monday, and ESPN programming isn’t impacted by the DirecTV/Berkshire Hathaway carriage dispute.

On its web site on Friday night, WPLG said “the station and its parent company have been negotiating in good faith, but DirecTV and AT&T are not willing to pay a fair and reasonable amount for retransmission of our programming.”

If the sides are unable to reach an agreement, WPLG viewers could meet the same fate that disrupted viewers in dozens of markets over the past eight months.

On Nov. 30, DirecTV removed Tegna-owned local affiliates (primarily CBS and NBC stations) in 51 markets. That dispute wasn’t resolved until Jan. 13.

ABC affiliates in Atlanta and elsewhere temporarily went dark in February in DirecTV homes because of a carriage dispute with Cox Communications.

If an agreement between DirecTV and WPLG isn’t reached by Wednesday’s newest deadline - and if the station is yanked - then local hockey fans can watch the Stanley Cup Finals through ESPN Plus’ streaming services and on services that can carry ABC, such as FUBO.

For the NBA Finals, games also will be streamed on the ABC app from a smartphone and tablet (iOS and Android), a computer on ABC.com and connected devices (Roku, AppleTV and Amazon Fire TV). But that requires submitting your cable/satellite provider and authentication, per ABC’s web site.

In a doomsday DirecTV/WPLG scenario, other options to watch the NBA Finals or Stanley Cup Finals include switching cable or satellite providers or going to a local sports bar.

But Channel 10 top executive Medina seems optimistic that service will continue uninterrupted.

Any removal of WPLG from DirecTV homes would impact AT&T U-verse because DirecTV owns U-verse TV service, though AT&T handles billing and support services.

DirecTV was at one time AT&T’s live TV and on-demand service, but U-Verse is not accepting new customers. DirecTV and DirecTV internet and streaming services are the only TV services now being sold by the company.

This is the second time in two months that a carriage disagreement leaves South Florida sports fans in a potential pickle.

On April 30, Comcast -- South Florida’s dominant cable provider - dropped Bally Sports Florida and Bally Sports Sun from its lineup in the midst of a carriage rights dispute. Marlins games, among other programming, haven’t aired on television in Comcast homes since then, though they are available on the Bally app.