UPDATE: Argentina Supreme Court Rules Against Grupo Clarin SA

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By a 6-1 vote, the Argentina Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of the South American nation's Media Law, which means broadcast license limitations and divestiture for the country's largest media conglomerate, the Buenos Aires Herald reported.

As reported here (see "TUOL" posts 10/16/13, 4/24/13, 12/10/12, 10/6/10), Articles 45 & 48 of the law, which limited the number of broadcast licenses commercial entities may own, and Articles 41 and 161, which impose deadlines for divestiture, have been the subject of a five-year battle involving Grupo Clarin and Argentina's President, Cristina Kirchner.

The country's Congress enacted the law in 2009 with Kirchner's strong backing. The Supreme Court issued a 392-page opinion last week.

UPDATE: Argentine Supreme Court Decision on Media Law Imminent

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Argentina's Supreme Court is expected to rule within a couple of weeks on the constitutionality of a media law that could break-up the holdings of President Cristina Kirchner's fiercest media critics, The Daily Telegraph reported this week.

Kirchner, 60,currently on the mend from brain surgery, has grappled for four years with media outlets, specifically Grupo Clarin SA, claiming they were complicit in alleged inhumane acts carried out by the military regime that preceded her election.  The media groups, in turn, condemn her government as autocratic and intolerant (see "TUOL" posts 4/4/13/ & 12/10/12).

In the latest phase, media leaders are accusing the government of pressuring retailers not to advertise in the media, which the editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper Clarin has resulted in a 70 percent to 80 percent decrease in ad revenues. La Nacion and Perfil reportedly were other news outlets targeted by the boycott, according to the Telegraph article.

The court will be ruling on the legitimacy of the media law's Articles 45 and 48, which would limit cable network ownership and limit "unlawful concentration practices," respectively. It would force Grupo Clarin SA, for example, to lose most of its broadcasting licenses.

Court Strikes Down Portion of Argentine Media Law on Divestiture

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Argentina's President, Cristina Fernandez, 60, suffered a setback last week in her five-year battle with the South American nation's largest media conglomerate, Grupo Clarin SA, after a federal appeals court struck down a portion of a media law concerning divestiture as unconstitutional.

According to reports by the Buenos Aires Herald, Associated Press and Telegeography.com blog, the government plans to appeal to the Supreme Court the ruling that Articles 45 and 48 of the media law were unconstitutional. The former limits cable network ownership and the latter limits "unlawful concentration practices."

Grupo Clarin's media holdings include four tv stations, 10 radio stations, 240 cable tv operators and ISPs, and Argentina's largest daily newspaper, Clarin (see "TUOL" posts 12/10/12 & 10/6/10). President Fernandez has long railed against what she perceives to be the monopoly power of  Grupo Clarin, which, not surprisingly, has been critical of her regime. But, according to the Buenos Aires Herald article, the Civil and Commercial Chamber found portions of the country's media law arbitrarily limited the media company's right to hold multiple broadcast and cable tv licenses.

Fernandez is pressing Argentina's Congress to enact legislation that would make it harder to obtain judicial injunctions.

Don't Divest of Me, Argentina...

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A four-year antitrust battle between the Argentine government and the South American nation's largest media conglomerate is not over yet, according to Bloomberg News, which last week reported a judge issued an injunction postponing divesture of media holdings.

Grupo Clarin SA ("GCSA"), which owns four tv stations, 10 radio stations, 240 cable tv operators and Internet Service Providers and Clarin, the nation's largest newspaper, dodged the effects of Article 161 that requires divestiture of tv and radio stations. (See "TUOL" post 10/6/10.) A judge last week delayed the deadline for GCSA having to submit a plan to sell assets without setting a new deadline, pending another court ruling on the constitutionality of Article 161.

Argentina's 59-year-old President Christina Fernandez de Kirchner and GCSA have been at loggerheads over what the government perceives as media bias in the coverage of an export tax dispute involving the government and farmers. According to the Bloomberg article, GCSA's cable entity, Cablevision SA, would have been forced to pare its 168 licenses nationwide down to 24 to comply with the antitrust measure,