Don't Divest of Me, Argentina...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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,

Calif. High Court Gives SF Weekly Owner the Golden Gate

Image via WikipediaThe California Supreme Court this week refused to hear the appeal of Village Voice Media Holdings-owned SF Weekly's adverse ruling in the antitrust suit brought by rival weekly Bay Guardian, according to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle (www.sfgate.com).

With only one of the seven-member high court willing to hear the appeal in Bay Guardian v. New Times Media (Case No. S186497), the $21 million judgment against the defendant for attempting to shut down the Bay Guardian by selling its own ad space below cost.  The California Supreme Court rejected the defendant's argument that its low advertising rate constituted legitimate business competition that was a boon to local businesses.

Both the Bay Guardian and SF Weekly are free publications heavily reliant on advertising revenue for their existence. In 2008, a jury found for the homegrown Bay Guardian, awarding $6.2 million in damages against the defendant for illegal predatory pricing (114 Cal. Rptr. 3d 392 (2008)). The verdict was upped to $16 million by the trial judge pursuant to antitrust law penalties, and interest accrued brought the total award to $21 million.  An appeals court subsequently allowed the Bay Guardian to collect half of SF Weekly's ad revenue in partial satisfaction of the judgment.

Can A Google Get Some Love?

Image via Wikipedia

Bloomberg News reports that the European Commission, the antitrust arm of the 27-nation European Union, may investigate Mountain View, Calif.-based Google, to determine whether the search engine behemoth engaged in anti-competitive behavior.

Google controls 79 percent of the European search engine market, according to ComScore, Inc. Five months ago, Ejustice.fr, Foundem, and Ciao from Bing lodged an antitrust complaint against the company.  Google denies that its business operations run afoul of European competition laws. Faithful readers of "TUOL"--you know who you are--are familiar with posts over the past year involving various countries lining up to take potshots, and a tug at the purse strings of Google (see posts on  2/25/10, 1/11/10, 12/23/09).