Deal Could Be on Thin Ice on NHL Front

If a three-way merger of Viacom Inc., Blockbuster Entertainment Corp. and Paramount Communications Inc. came to pass, one potentially complicating side issue would involve professional hockey franchises and the National Hockey League.

Paramount owns the New York Rangers hockey team (as well as the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Assn.). Meanwhile, Blockbuster Chairman H. Wayne Huizenga owns the Florida Panthers of the NHL.

Although the Rangers are corporate-owned and the Panthers are privately held, legal questions may be raised about conflicts of interest in the ownership of the two hockey teams.

A Blockbuster company official said Thursday they had “looked into it” and found no problem with the ownership issue.

But Brian Burke, NHL senior vice president, said in a telephone interview from New York late Friday: “The NHL has a provision which prohibits ownership of more than one hockey club. Certainly this is a case which should properly be referred to our legal staff because the specifics would have to be examined before an official NHL determination could be made.”