Breaking: NHL, broadcasters settle lawsuit over TV blackouts

Here's some good news that just came across the wire.

By Jonathan Stempel, Yahoo News--- NEW YORK (Reuters) - The National Hockey league will permit fans to watch their favorite teams play outside their home markets, without having to pay extra for a league-wide bundle of games, as part of a settlement of a class action antitrust lawsuit.

The preliminary accord made public on Thursday resolves claims that the league, several teams, Comcast Corp, DirecTV and Madison Square Garden Co, used blackouts to limit out-of-market broadcasts of games.

Fans said this forced them to buy costly bundles of games they did not care about, rather than spend less to buy games "a la carte," if they wanted to want their preferred teams.

Under the settlement, the NHL will, for the next five years, offer a "Game Center Live" Internet package enabling fans to buy single-team packages for at least 20 percent below the cost of bundled packages