Why 49ers are blacked out for many TV viewers in Northern California. How you can watch

Don’t adjust your sets.

Some satellite TV viewers in the Sacramento, Stockton and Modesto areas could have trouble finding the San Francisco 49ers’ NFL season opener at 10 a.m. Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Sunday’s game will be blacked out in many homes throughout the region due to DirecTV’s dispute with Nexstar, the parent company of KTXL-TV, Channel 40. DirecTV removed Fox 40 from its Northern California lineup on July 2, a move that has left local viewers in the dark at the start of college and NFL football season.

When Colorado visited TCU in a highly anticipated college opener last weekend, KTXL published a story on its website advising viewers they would not be able to see the game on DirecTV. KTXL reported Nexstar is “working hard to resolve the impasse with DirecTV, but the company has twice turned down Nexstar’s offer of an extension.”

KTXL urged customers to “call the company at 800-531-5000 and demand that they restore KTXL to their systems” while providing a number of other alternatives:

▪ DirecTV customers can switch their cable or satellite provider to another service. KTXL has reached agreements with all other local distributors and Channel 40 is available on all of them.

▪ KTXL is also available on streaming services such as YouTube TV and Hulu.

▪ As a broadcast station, KTXL broadcasts its signal over the public airwaves to anyone with an antenna, which you can find at stores like Best Buy.

▪ Many local restaurants and sports bars will also be carrying the game.

Gary Weitman, executive vice president and chief communications officer for Nexstar Media Group, Inc., said negotiations are ongoing in a statement issued to The Sacramento Bee.

“We continue trying to reach an agreement with DIRECTV, and we’re sorry for the inconvenience this impasse has caused viewers,” Weitman said. “It is unfortunate that DIRECTV has chosen to put its subscribers in the middle of this fight by twice rejecting our offer to restore channels like FOX 40 to DIRECTV’s systems while we continued negotiating.”

DirecTV described its dispute with Nexstar differently, offering these “key takeaways” to customers:

▪ Nexstar continues to hold your local news and sports hostage since our expiration on July 2 to secure double the rates for the same programming that’s free over-the-air today.

▪ DirecTV remains at the negotiating table to protect you from unwarranted rate increases while Nexstar drags its feet harming viewers, investors, local stations and the industry in the process.

▪ Nexstar’s greed could impact some upcoming hometown games, and DirecTV is offering affected customers relief for this temporary inconvenience.