from Rick Westhead of TSN,
The National Hockey League has lost a court motion to dismiss a case filed by six fans who allege that the 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.
Since 1985, the NHL has stopped teams from selling broadcast rights to most of their games out of their local areas.
If this latest litigation is successful, it's possible that popular teams like the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks could begin selling their broadcast rights throughout the United States.
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 NHL subsequently filed a motion to dismiss the case and a judge ruled this week against that motion. The ruling was unsealed on Friday.
Here is the original story on this topic Westhead did in March, 2012 when he was with the Toronto Star.
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