Three hockey fans want to put the NHL in the penalty box for allegedly using “anti-competitive blackouts.” to jack up the cost of watching games on TV or the Internet.
A class-action, antitrust suit filed in Manhattan federal court yesterday charges that the league and its 30 member teams have illegally schemed to “divide the live-game video presentation market into exclusive territories.”
The suit says fans get iced out of watching their home teams’ away games unless they forked over “supra-competitive prices” for “out-of-market” pay-TV or Internet packages.