News Article: NHL loses key decision in TV Rights lawsuit

[deeshamrock]

An interesting turn of events in court regarding the NHL and broadcasting rights.


http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=459001

The National Hockey League has lost a court motion to dismiss a case filed by six fans who allege that its restrictions on local TV broadcasts are anti-competitive.

The case is expected to proceed to trial early in 2015. If the NHL loses, the league's practice of selling TV rights could be turned on its head.

In a lawsuit filed in New York two years ago, a group of disgruntled fans claimed that the restrictions on broadcasting were inappropriately driving up the price of sports cable television packages.

The plantiff's lawyers are going to try to go class action and if the judge agrees, anyone whose paid NHL Center Ice would be included as the plantiff

Click to read more...

 

[ADifferentTim]

Dammit. How would this affect the new TV deal the league is expecting cash in on?

 

[Ron*]

Dammit. How would this affect the new TV deal the league is expecting cash in on?

Not at all.

All they lost was a motion. This case is just starting. It will take years to draw up the "class" and years more to litigate this thing. After all is said and done, there will be some type of settlement and all of the plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit (except for the six original plaintiffs and their attorneys) will like get a $5 coupon to spend at McDonalds.

The original six plaintiffs are the real winners. They will get $10 coupons.

And their attorneys will walk off with a couple of million, I suspect.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Kind of interesting case really. If I understand it right, that would put selling rights for out-of-area games back to the local teams?

How does this work in other sports leagues?

 

[TonySCV]

This is a sliver of the entirety of the case. A non-event really. The NHL had no prayer of having this case dismissed on its merits. Slow news day at TSN.