Supreme Court suspends Mendoza’s jurisdiction of Cablevision case

Argentina’s Supreme Court has ordered Walter Bento, the federal judge of the court in Mendoza province, to suspend involvement in the case brought by Supercanal which accuses Cablevision, owned by local media giant Clarin, of anti-competitive practices. La Nacion reports that the Supreme Court ordered the suspension until the high court decides whether the case should be processed in Mendoza or the federal capital, Buenos Aires. The decision also suspends the effects of a resolution under which Bento ordered the removal of the board of directors of Cablevision and its replacement with a court-appointed administrator. In December 2011 police raided the headquarters of Cablevision to enforce a court order following a complaint over unfair competition from Supercanal. As reported by CommsUpdate, Cablevision said in mid-August that investment for this year would be lower than originally planned, due to its escalating dispute with the administration of President Cristina Fernandez, which has been ongoing since 2008, when the media group criticised Fernandez’s handling of farmer protests soon after she succeeded her late husband as president. The dispute saw the government block a merger between Cablevision and its sister cable Multicanal on the grounds that Cablevision already held more licences than allowed by local regulations. The merger had earlier been approved by the Ministry of Domestic Trade and National Defence Commission of Competition (CNDC).