Government was last night thrust into a tight corner in its licensing row with Bermuda CableVision after a Supreme Court judge rejected its bid to force the company to continue providing its television service.

The Supreme Court ruled that the Ministry of Telecommunications had no legal right to keep an injunction in place, which had barred CableVision from pulling the plug on its service after it had refused to accept a new one-year licence.

After the ruling, CableVision stopped service at 8 p.m., but reinstated it two hours later after Government asked for a five-day reprieve to settle the dispute.

In her judgment earlier, Puisne Judge Norma Wade-Miller said that the courts could not intervene in a purely commercial dispute between Government and CableVision - and she also rapped Government for failing to disclose all of the material facts of the case when it first applied for an injunction to keep CableVision on the air.

She found in favour of the cable provider and removed the injunction, which had initially been placed on CableVision at the start of September,

She said because the Attorney General's Chambers had failed to inform the court of CableVision's argument that the Minister was compelled to offer a ten-year licence, that, alone, meant the injunction was flawed.

Mrs. Justice Wade-Miller added: "This is surely a commercial negotiation for a renewal of a licence. It would be quite wrong for the courts to interfere. The parties must be free to negotiate their bargain free from interference by the courts. If this were not so, confidence in the courts would be eroded."

As a result of the findings, at 8 p.m. last night CableVision pulled the plug, saying it did not have a licence to operate from September this year.

However, the service was reinstated two hours later after Acting Telecommunications Minister Alex Scott asked the company to continue providing cable for five days to allow for talks to resume.

CableVision said the Acting Minister had assured them that no sanctions would be taken against the company for operating without a licence.

In a statement released late last night, CableVision chairman Rod Hansen said: "We regret that we were forced to shut down, but it is entirely dependent upon the fact that the Ministry has steadfastly refused to meet with us.

"We are extremely sorry for the distress that this entire matter has caused to our customers and our employees, who understandably feel caught in the middle."

The row between the Ministry and CableVision kicked off at the end of last month when the company's request for a 15-year licence was turned down.

Instead, Telecommunications Minister Renee Webb offered the provider just a one-year term, and promised it would be extended if the company put a service level agreement in place, and improved other areas of service.

She said she would not budge on the matter until improvements were made.

But CableVision refused the offer, stating that it would not be viable for it to continue ploughing in millions of dollars if it could not be sure of a long-term agreement on the Island.

Instead, Bermuda's only cable provider said it would rather withdraw altogether than sign a one-year deal.

"It is important for the Bermuda public to understand that at no time did CableVision make a threat to anyone," added Mr. Hansen last night.

"We have simply conveyed all along that we would be forced to shut down because a one-year licence is not economically viable for our future.

"This is not a threat, it is an unfortunate reality."

Regulation 17 of the Cable Television Service Regulations 1987 states: "A cable TV licence for a system shall continue in force for such period of not less than ten years as the Minister may decide and may be renewed."

And CableVision said it was its contention that the only interpretation that could be given to that ruling was that the Minister was duty-bound to grant a minimum ten-year licence.

Mr. Hansen said he had essentially been told by the Ministry to take the one-year licence.

But he added: "A one-year licence does not allow us to recover the millions already invested, nor does it assure us of a viable commercial future. For this reason, we had no choice but to refuse the licence that was offered to us."

But he added: "We look forward to a fruitful dialogue aimed at resolving the matter so that we can continue to provide service to our customers and complete the construction of our new system."

The chairman said the company had contacted all of its employees by phone last night to call a meeting for Monday morning to explain ongoing developments to them and discuss their ramifications for the company.

Last night, Telecommunications Minister Renee Webb was off the Island and not expected back until early next week.

But Mr. Scott said he wanted residents to know that if CableVision had wanted to provide a continuous service last night, it could have done.

Before CableVision restarted the service, he said: "CableVision do not have to go off this evening. If they got in touch with me tonight, the (one-year) licence is there for them.

"I want the people of Bermuda to know that they are withdrawing their service because they choose to - not because they have to."

And he said Government had only been acting in the public's interests when it refused to grant a 15-year licence.

He added: "The reason we have taken this stand is because we have heard the complaints over the months and we feel this is the only way to get a monopoly such as CableVision to provide the service they should.

"All people want is a good service."

And Mr. Scott said if customers had been treated well in the past by CableVision, they may well have supported the cable company on this issue, but he believed they did not.

He added: "Right now, I think the public will say Government represents us and enough is enough. ...

"If we said `right, here is your 15-year licence, please remedy these issues', we might be waiting 15 years to get them addressed."

Just this week, CableVision customers have complained about poor repair and restoration service within the company, and rude customer service.