On Friday, August 8, 2014, the Southern District of New York
denied motions for summary judgment filed by the National Hockey
League, Major League Baseball, Comcast Corp. and DirecTV LLC in
suits alleging that these organizations and television providers
conspired to hinder competition in television and internet sports
broadcasting. In two class action suits brought by consumers
of broadcast sports, plaintiffs claimed that the leagues and
television providers agreed to "black out" games so that
regional sports networks faced limited competition to broadcast
live events. This purportedly anti-competitive agreement
forced plaintiffs to buy "out of market" packages offered
by defendants, such as MLB Extra Innings, to watch live games on
television or the internet if they did not live within the regional
provider's viewing territory. Laumann, et al. v.
National Hockey League, et al., case number 1:12-cv-01817;
Lerner v. Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, et al.,
cas
