On Thursday, the NHL, Comcast, DirecTV, Madison Square Garden Co., and eight NHL franchises proposed a settlement to an antitrust class-action lawsuit filed in 2012. Should the settlement be accepted by the judge, the NHL will become the first of the major sports leagues to offer subscription programing in an unbundled format online.
There is good news and bad news coming out of the proposed agreement.
Let’s start with the good news: Fans will no longer have to purchase the entire NHL Game Center Live package just to watch their favorite team play.
Starting with the 2015-2016 season, the NHL will offer viewers the option to purchase a single team subscription of Game Center Live (GCL) for a price lower than the bundled version with all the games.