Telecommunications Minister Renee Webb is considering taking legal action against CableVision after it pulled the plug on all World Cup matches at the weekend in a row over exclusive rights.

Ms Webb said she was seeking advice from the Attorney General's Chambers after CableVision acted outside of the law by shutting down local channel ZBM, which it is obligated to carry at all times.

The Minister had to step in on Saturday morning after the cable company reacted to an injunction brought by Bermuda Broadcasting Company on behalf of ZBM, banning it from showing the competition on any other channels but theirs.

The BBC's chief executive Rick Richardson went to the Supreme Court on Friday afternoon to request the court order after CableVision broke a written agreement not to show the competition because ZBM had been given the exclusive rights by soccer's world governing body FIFA.

Despite, the written promise to honour the agreement, CableVision then aired the competition's opening game between France and Senegal on ESPN2 on Friday morning.

However, the court order stated that CableVision not carry any of the World Cup matches "in any fashion" on its channels.

And this, CableVision took to the letter. General Manager Jeremy Elmas claimed the order had clearly stated that no cable channels carry the coverage, and that had to include ZBM.

As a result, it blacked out all coverage on Saturday morning, until Ms Webb was able to step in and order the local channels by aired.

Scheduling was back to normal later that same morning.

The Minister said: "CableVision was taking the wording of the order as justification for shutting down ZBM. They know that under the regulations they have to carry the local channels. The judge's ruling was with respect to ESPN and other carriers, not ZBM.

"I simply told CableVision (on Saturday morning) that they were required to show the games on ZBM. It was not a case of my overruling the judge's order, I was simply telling CableVision that they were acting outside of the law. My advice to them was that they had to put it back on. My direction did not conflict with the judge's at all. It was very clear what the judge had ordered."

But Ms Webb said she was not impressed with the behaviour of CableVision, and believed it had also been poor public relations for the company.

She added: "CableVision, unfortunately, acted in a way that was detrimental to its own clients. It was affecting those people who use cable.

"I am sure the BBC will also be filing for damages. There are people who advertised during the football on Saturday morning.

"And, of course, I have asked the Attorney General's Chambers to look at what we can do because CableVision acted outside of the law.

"We can't let them get away with shutting local television down when they feel like it."

On Friday, Mr. Elmas said CableVision had merely been following the order to the letter and at no time did it make an exception of ZBM. But after he was ordered to air ZBM's coverage on Saturday, he released a second statement claiming that the BBC had not followed the correct procedures in requesting that all other coverage of the World Cup by blacked out.

Mr. Elmas said: "It is regrettable that the situation reached the point it did, since it could have been avoided by following a standardised procedure, which we have been requesting for quite some time.

"CableVision has asked the BBC to follow the same policy as that enforced in the US by the Federal Communications Commission and also applied in Bahamas, which means providing us with 60 days' advance written notice, including proof of exclusive rights and a list of programmes, dates and times, when the blackouts are to be implemented. We received our first written notice from BBC on May 13. The list of programmes to be blacked out reached us only on Friday at 1 p.m.. It was followed just hours later by the court order, written by BBC's attorneys, which directed us to black out all overage of World Cup programming."

He said in order to prevent similar situations arising in the future, CableVision had put forward a written proposal to the Ministry of Telecommunications suggesting that local regulations be developed in Bermuda to deal with the issue of blackouts.

"CableVision remains committed to respecting any exclusive programming rights asserted and established by BBC. However, we and our customers require sufficient advance notice regarding these matters if we are to avoid situations of the sort that occurred yesterday."

But yesterday, the BBC's lawyer Mark Pettingill said there were "holes" in the claims made by CableVision.

He said despite the fact that the BBC only requested the black out on May 13, CableVision had agreed in writing to honour it, and had even placed an advert in the press warning viewers about the exclusive rights. Mr. Pettingill said: "As with regards the programming scheduling, they had it. The schedule we printed off and gave them was their very own. Had they stuck by the agreement that they had put in writing, they would have never been any need to go to court. CableVision escalated this. CableVision knew what its duties were under the law with regards local channels and it broke them."

And he said everyone would be prepared to deal with "reasonable processes" with regards blacking out programmes, but said CableVision should be reminded that Bermuda is the equivalent of a small town in the US and its needs were very different. He added: "There is a huge difference between the US and Bermuda. And we must remember that some of these contracts with regards sporting events can be dealt with right up to the last minute. The BBC wrote to CableVision as soon as practicable and having secured their rights. After that, CableVision agreed the blackout and even placed an advert in the paper. Why they then broke it, we don't know?"