The ongoing saga of Madison Square Garden’s dispute with the National Hockey league continues: New York Rangers, run by MSG LP, which in turn is a Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) Systems unit, filed an anti-trust lawsuit last year alleging that NHL was violating antitrust laws by seeking to control the team’s websites. In November last year, a federal judge denied MSG’s request for a preliminary injunction against the NHL. The judge said that the league appeared within its rights to control its 30 teams’ websites.

Now, NHL has fired back again, filing a disciplinary letter with the court under which MSG may lose ownership of the New York Rangers. In the letter, NHL said MSG violated the league’s constitution in filing its suit, and is seeking a judicial declaration that would let it impose internal discipline against the Rangers and MSG, reports Bloomberg.

The potential actions against MSG may include suspension or termination of membership, damages payable to the league and other teams. The NHL’s board of governors would be required to approve any sanctions by a 75 percent vote.

Newsday (now in the process of being bought by Cablevision): The legal battle over marketing turf dates to 2006, when team owners voted 25-3 to approve transfer of all 30 teams’ digital rights to the league, mimicking a “unitized” Internet business model used by the National Football League since 1999 and Major League Baseball since 2001. The Rangers cast one of the “no” votes...At the heart of the conflict is MSG’s belief that, as a big-market team, the Rangers should be free to find new revenue streams outside the limits of market-sharing restrictions.

The full filing from NHL, calling for disciplinary action against MSG is embedded below as PDF (RSS readers may have to click through)

• New York Rangers/Cablevision Sue NHL, Opposing Its Website Control By The League
• U.S. District Judge Refuses To Grant MSG Injunction Against NHL Over Rangers’ Site