DirecTV’s sports fans in Miami already know the bad news, and showbiz devotees in Boston soon will: The satellite company failed to strike a carriage deal with Sunbeam Television prior to Fox’s broadcast of the NFL playoff game between the Green Bay Packers and New York Giants — and there are no plans to talk before NBC shows the Golden Globes tonight. Sunbeam owns Fox-affiliate WSVN in Miami where DirecTV has about 250,000 customers, and NBC affiliate WHDH and CW affiliate WLVI in Boston where the satellite company has 200,000 subs. In an email sent just before game time DirecTV asked Sunbeam for permission show the match without a contractual agreement “so our customers will not be deprived of yet another playoff game in your markets.” The satellite company added that it is ”available at any time to discuss our agreement when you are ready to respond to our last offer.” Sunbeam, seeking a 300% in its rates, yanked its stations from DirecTV Friday at midnight.

This is going to become an increasing source of irritation for subscribers to not only DirecTV, but all providers. Newport Television and Verizon FiOS just had a showdown last week where several markets had their CBS channels pulled, preventing subscribers from seeing NFL playoff games. These increased carriage fees are being driven by the networks themselves down to local affiliates. The networks see this as a new revenue stream to enhance sagging ad revenue. And to those who say to just drop the provider and go to the Internet, just wait. When enough people do that, the networks will figure out a way to screw that up, too.