[markbarbera]

New development in Mountain Cablevision buyout. As posted on bloomberg.com:

Rogers Seeks to Block Shaw From Buying Cable Provider

Sept. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Rogers Communications Inc., Canada’s biggest cable-television provider, sued to block its largest rival, Shaw Communications Inc., from expanding into eastern Canada with the purchase of a Hamilton, Ontario, cable company.

Rogers asked an Ontario judge today to halt Shaw’s purchase of Mountain Cablevision Ltd. for about C$300 million ($278 million) until a trial. Ontario Superior Court Judge Frank Newbould reserved his decision on the request following a hearing today in Toronto.

“I’ll get you something as quickly as possible,” Newbould told lawyers from the two companies at the conclusion of the four-hour hearing.

Rogers, based in Toronto, argued that Calgary-based Shaw is reneging on the companies’ nine-year-old agreement to divide Canada in half, letting Rogers provide services east of Manitoba and restricting Shaw to western Canada.

Shaw said July 16 it would buy Mountain Cablevision, which has about 41,000 TV subscribers, 28,000 Internet subscribers and 27,000 telephone customers in the Hamilton area, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) southwest of Toronto. Terms of the agreement weren’t released at the time.

3 Percent

Charles F. Scott, a lawyer at Lax O’Sullivan Scott LLP representing Shaw, said at today’s hearing the difference between Rogers’s offer for Mountain Cablevision and what Shaw bid was about C$10 million, or 3 percent. That would suggest a price of around C$300 million, he said after the hearing.

“Mountain isn’t a one-off deal,” Tim Pinos, a lawyer for Rogers with Cassels, Brock & Blackwell LLP, told the judge. “Shaw intends to acquire further assets in eastern Canada.”

Shaw claims any deal restricting each company to a portion of the country is illegal and unenforceable because it unfairly restricts competition.

The “intent is to create two monopolies,” Scott said. “It’s not a matter of undue competition. It’s a matter of eliminating competition.”

The case is Rogers Communications v. Shaw Communications, 09-8305-00CL, Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Toronto).

To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Schneider in Toronto at [email protected]