response, a Facebook page called "Boycott WSVN" was started to pressure businesses to pull their advertising from the station. However, WSVN did allow DirecTV customers to view the NFC championship game and an episode of American Idol that aired immediately after the game while negotiations were still ongoing. Sunbeam and DirecTV reached a new carriage deal on January 26, 2012, ending the blackout. On September 27, 2017, three workers were killed after a crane collapsed off the side of WSVN's television tower. The tower, shared with WPLG, was having to install a new transmitter for WSVN as part of the mandated FCC spectrum repack. Averted loss of Fox affiliation On February 22, 2018, it was reported that Sinclair Broadcast Group would sell CW affiliate WSFL-TV to Fox Television Stations as part of its larger deal to acquire WSFL parent Tribune Media; the deal was officially announced on May 9, 2018. A purchase of WSFL by FTS would likely result in WSFL becoming a Fox O&O and WSVN losing its affiliation, similar to sister station WHDH in Boston losing its NBC affiliation to WBTS-LD (now Telemundo O&O WYCN-LD in Providence, Rhode Island) after NBC purchased that station; executives at Fox parent company 21st Century Fox declined to immediately announce any plans regarding WSFL in an earnings call, with CEO Lachlan Murdoch stating that "We're not making any announcements of any affiliate changes today." On May 11, 2018, Ed Ansin stated that WSVN would remain a Fox affiliate through at least June 30, 2019 (when its affiliation contract was scheduled to expire), and that WSVN would be run as a news-intensive independent station modeled on WHDH if the Fox affiliation was lost; in an interview with the Sun-Sentinel, Ansin said that Fox had not informed him of its intentions, and that the station would replace Fox's prime time programming with syndicated programming and an additional newscast. Three weeks after the FCC's July 18, 2018, vote to have the deal reviewed by an administrative law judge amid "serious concerns" about Sinclair's forthrightness in its applications to sell certain conflict properties, on August 9, 2018, Tribune announced it would terminate the Sinclair deal, intending to seek other M&A opportunities. The termination of said merger also made the Fox purchase of WSFL unsuccessful. On December 3, 2018, Irving, Texas-based Nexstar Media Group announced it would acquire the assets of Tribune Media for $6.4 billion in