But the strike also appears to have given NBC time to come up with a financially palatable way to save Central Texas-shot Friday Night Lights, keeping the show on for a third year.

While NBC officials are declining to comment citing ongoing negotiations, Bob Hudgins, head of the Texas Film Commission, says he was told a rumored deal with satellite provider DirecTV will happen, and the series should begin series prep in June for a July start.

Rumors of the deal first arose last week on the Web site Dead linehollywooddaily.com.

Most likely the deal would be similar to one NBC struck with DirecTV last year that brought the soap opera Passions to the satellite provider's The 101, a channel that provides original programming. Whether the show would continue to appear on NBC, as well, is uncertain but likely.

Lights has had a rough year, never pulling in more than 7.5 million viewers a week and ranking a dismal 53 among viewers ages 18-49. But it remained one of the most-recorded-to-DVR shows on television and is known to attract more affluent "upscale" audiences with incomes of more than $100,000 a year.