NHL Playoffs Rekindle Cable Television War

The Mighty Ducks announced Monday that the ESPN blackouts for their first two playoff games against the Phoenix Coyotes have been lifted.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean that Game 1 Wednesday night and Game 2 Friday night, both at the Pond, will actually be televised locally by ESPN. At least not without a fight.

“Fox Sports West 2 has exclusive rights to televise those games locally and we intend to enforce these rights vigorously,” said Fox Sports West 2 spokesman Steve Webster.

So more than likely there will be another court battle today or Wednesday between Fox Sports West and its parent company, Fox Sports Net, a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, and the Mighty Ducks, who are owned by Disney, which also owns ESPN.

In early February, the Ducks filed suit against Fox Sports West in Orange County Superior Court for moving their telecasts from Fox Sports West to Fox Sports West 2, which was launched Jan. 27.

Then in early March, Fox sued Disney, claiming the company was influencing cable operators to not carry Fox Sports West 2.

Round 3 could have a profound effect on Duck fans in Orange County, since no county cable companies carry Fox Sports West 2.

A lifting of the ESPN blackouts would give Duck fans who have cable television the opportunity to see the first two games. But if Fox Sports West is successful in reinstalling the ESPN blackouts, then the only way for Orange County viewers to get the Duck telecasts on Fox Sports West 2 is through DirecTV or a C-band satellite-dish system.

The Ducks believe it is within their rights to lift the blackouts.

“The Mighty Ducks informed the NHL, in accordance with regulations and procedures, that the club authorized the lifting of local blackouts on ESPN for Games 1 and 2,” said team spokesman Bill Robertson in a prepared statement.

The Ducks also announced the rest of the television schedule for the first-round series against Phoenix.

Game 3 Sunday at Phoenix will be televised by the Fox network (Channel 11 locally), and Game 4 will be televised by Channel 9.

Games 5 and 7, which, if necessary, will be played in Anaheim on April 24 and 29, are both scheduled to be televised by Fox Sports West 2.

ESPN will not announce if it will televise those games until next week. Game 6, which would be played Sunday, April 27, at Phoenix, would be televised by the Fox network.