from Simon Hoult of the Globe and Mail,

Last week, Adam Reid, a Senators fan who lives in Newfoundland, tweeted: “How does the @NHL justify blacking out games IF WE LITERALLY CANNOT GO TO GAMES [followed by five ‘disapproval’ emojis]”. The tweet registered more than 2,000 likes.

But those fans are working from an outdated playbook. Decades ago, NHL owners realized the potential for higher TV revenue outweighed the risk of cannibalizing their ticket sales, so they began selling what are known as regional broadcasting rights to local channels, such as CHCH in Hamilton, which aired Maple Leafs games in the late 1970s and ’80s, and BCTV, which aired Canucks games.

Then the deeper-pocketed cable sports channels came along and scooped up those regional rights. (CBC retained its Hockey Night in Canada franchise, airing games across the country on Saturday nights, until Rogers Communications bought those, too, with its famous $5.2-billion deal for 12 years’ worth of national games.)

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