NHL Gamecenter Live and Center Ice Lawsuit

Chalk one up for the everyday person.  It may not be a big one.  But at least it starts to poke some holes in the local TV market monopolies starting with the NHL.

A judge has found in favor of defendants who were suing over monopoly pricing of Gamecenter Live and Center Ice.  While no damages were awarded, there was injuctive relief.

The result?  You will now be able to buy access for just one team.  And everyone will enjoy a discount for a couple years.

Full details can be found here.

Summary of the Class Action Settlement with highlights in red:

You Have an Opportunity to Subscribe to Discounted Individual Team Packages through NHL GameCenter LIVE and You May Have Access to Free NHL Center Ice Programming through Comcast or DIRECTV
A federal court authorized this notice. This is not a solicitation from a lawyer.

• A proposed settlement (the “Settlement”) has been reached in a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of consumers who purchased NHL GameCenter LIVE from the NHL or purchased NHL Center Ice from Comcast or DIRECTV between March 12, 2008, and June 10, 2015. The proposed settlement is between the individuals who brought that lawsuit and the defendants. The defendants are the National Hockey League (“NHL”), NHL Enterprises L.P., NHL Interactive Cyberenterprises LLC, New York Rangers Hockey Club, New Jersey Devils LLC, New York Islanders Hockey Club L.P., Comcast-Spectacor L.P., Lincoln Hockey LLC, Lemieux Group, L.P., Hockey Western New York LLC, Chicago Blackhawks Hockey Team Inc., San Jose Sharks LLC, DIRECTV, LLC, DIRECTV Sports Networks LLC, DIRECTV Sports Net Pittsburgh, LLC d/b/a Root Sports Pittsburgh, Comcast Corp., Comcast Sportsnet Philadelphia, L.P, Comcast Sportsnet Mid-Atlantic, L.P., Comcast Sportsnet California, LLC, Comcast Sportsnet Chicago, LLC, and The Madison Square Garden Company (“Defendants”). The lawsuit alleges that the NHL’s rules establishing the local broadcast territories and associated blackouts violated federal antitrust laws. If you purchased NHL GameCenter LIVE or NHL Center Ice from Comcast or DIRECTV between March 12, 2008 and June 10, 2015, your legal rights are affected whether you act or do not act. Please read this notice carefully.

• The lawsuit alleges that the territorial allocation of broadcast rights within the NHL assigned to each of its member clubs and thereafter sold to regional sporting networks violated federal antitrust laws, provides out of market consumers with fewer choices, and inflates prices charged to view broadcasts of live professional hockey games. Defendants dispute Plaintiffs’ factual and legal claims and deny any wrongdoing and liability, as well as any adverse effect on consumer choices and that prices charged have been inflated. The parties have concluded that it is in their best interests to settle the litigation to avoid the expense, inconvenience, and uncertainty of litigation.

• In May 2015, the Court granted in part and denied in part Plaintiffs’ motion for class certification. The court held that the individuals who filed this suit could represent a class for the purposes of seeking injunctive relief, but not damages.

• Under the Settlement and subject to the NHL’s continued delineation of its clubs’ local broadcast territorial rights, and associated blackout practices, the NHL has agreed to provide seasonal packages of single team’s out-of-market games through NHL GameCenter LIVE for each and every NHL Club (e.g., a stream of just the Chicago Blackhawks’ out-of-market games). These individual team bundles will be priced at 20% below the cost of the full GameCenter LIVE package. The NHL has also agreed to make this option available to Comcast and DIRECTV so that they may offer unbundled seasonal packages of single team games for each and every NHL Club available through NHL Center Ice, although Comcast and DIRECTV are not obligated to offer such packages.

• The NHL has also agreed to provide a 17.25% discount to the retail prices for the early bird, renewal, and full-season packages of GameCenter LIVE for the 2015-2016 season. This discount will also apply to any unbundled single team package, meaning that the price for a single team package will be discounted by 17.25% thereby maintaining the 20% discount set forth above.

• Comcast and DIRECTV have further agreed to provide the first three weeks of the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 Center Ice seasons for free, comprising a 12.5% discount off of the price of a full-season Center Ice package for those customers who subscribe to Center Ice, provided that Comcast and DIRECTV each respectively carries Center Ice for the applicable season.

• The Court in charge of this case still needs to decide whether or not to approve the Settlement. If the Court approves the Settlement, and after any appeals are resolved, the benefits will be provided automatically to class members.

Image courtesy of Major Nelson.