Canal Plus To Challenge Regulator's Withdrawal Of TPS Merger OK - Report

French pay-television company Canal Plus, owned by Vivendi SA (VIV.FR), will challenge the French competition authority's decision to withdraw approval of an acquisition the company made five years ago in the country's highest administrative court, Chief Executive Bertrand Meheut said in an interview with Le Monde published Tuesday.

France's antitrust regulator Autorite de la Concurrence last week withdrew its approval of Canal Plus's 2006 acquisition of smaller rival TPS, saying the company hasn't fulfilled requirements that were attached to the deal.

The Autorite de la Concurrence has also fined the company EUR30 million for failing to respect some "essential" conditions, and has ordered it to file a new application within a month to have the transaction approved.

"We will challenge the decision in front of the Conseil d'Etat. We will proceed with the notification of the acquisition of TPS within one month, which is rather surprising as it is an operation that dates back to 2006, which we will notify under current market conditions," Meheut told the paper.

Newspaper Web site: http://www.lemonde.fr

-By Paris Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires; 33-1-4017 1740