The stratospheric costs of sports rights could kill the cable bundle

WHAT IF SPORTS RIGHTS are getting so expensive that they blow up the traditional affordable bundle of TV channels? Every sport is demanding more cash from broadcasters, who willingly pay and who then pass those costs along to the cable/satellite/IPTV carriers, who then must pass it on to their customers, those TV-watching sports fans who just have to get their Leafs/Canucks/ManU/golf/curling/darts/skiing fix, no matter the cost. And those costs have been leaping of late. The wholesale fees charged by TSN to Canadian carriers, for example, have more than doubled in two years (to $2.21/subscriber/month if carried on basic, according to...