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WSVN Pulls Plug On DirectTV

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – DirectTV customers who wanted to watch the weekends NFL play off games on WSVN were out of luck.

The station cuts its link to DirectTV on Friday at midnight after they failed to reach an agreement on retransmission consent, according to The Sun-Sentinel.

The play off games on CBS aired as scheduled.

When DirectTV customers, approximately 270,000 homes in Miami-Dade and Broward, tuned in for the games, all they found was a screen which read "No need to call us. Service will be restored as soon as technical difficulties are resolved. Please check this channel periodically for status updates. Sorry for the interruption."

WSVN general manager Robert Leider told the paper he ordered the link cut because he felt DirectTV's offer for retransmission services was below fair market value.

Sal Benhaim, a DirectTV customer, told CBS4 he was really upset.  He said he pays extra for local channels and when he called DirectTV they would not let him out of his contract so he's paying extra for something he can't watch.

Football fans who wanted to watch the games were left with few options; find a friend with cable service or AT&T U-Verse, head out to a sports bar or hook up an old fashioned antenna.

There is no word on when service will be restored.

The Sun-Sentinel contributed to this report.

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