Sunbeam's Ansin Hopes for Quick Agreement With DirecTV

Letter to Sen. Kerry gives no assurance that there would be no Super Bowl blackout

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/26/2012 1:12:44 PM

Sunbeam President Edmund Ansin gave no assurances to Washington that there will be no Super Bowl blackout, though he did say that he is in negotiations with DirecTV and hopes to finalize an agreement "quickly."

That came in a letter to Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) dated Jan. 24, a copy of which was supplied to B&C/Multi.

Kerry had asked both Ansin and DirecTV President Michael White to publicly declare there would be no blackout of the Super Bowl (the Patriots are playing) in Boston if a retrans deal were not reached by Feb. 5.

In a brief response, Ansin said he, like everyone at his Boston stations, was "delighted" the Patriots were in the Super Bowl and wanted all their viewers to see the game, hoped to finalize a deal so that would be the case and thanked the senator for his concern.