Sky Television and Vodafone New Zealand have filed High Court papers appealing the Commerce Commission's decision to refuse clearance for their proposed merger. The move is intended to keep their options open ahead of a legal deadline for an appeal, and the companies have yet to say whether they will follow through with an actual court case. Sky TV spokeswoman Kirsty Way said the High Court papers did not set out what the companies' grounds for appealing the ruling might be. READ MORE: * Sky TV boss says appealing merger ruling would be like having 'root canal work' * Overturning kibosh on Sky/Vodafone merger would be 'a challenge' Sky explained in a statement to the NZX that the companies had triggered the appeal to avoid the risk of foreclosing their appeal rights, while they waited for the competition watchdog to release its detailed reasoning for its ruling. The Commerce Act says companies only have 20 working days to appeal a merger ruling through the courts, and that deadline was set to expire on Thursday. A commission spokesman said the competition watchdog had not yet finalised a date for publishing the reasoning for its ruling. Sky Television and Vodafone are understood to have been surprised by the commission's decision to reject the merger last month. The ruling saw almost $300 million wiped from Sky's share price. But competition lawyer Andy Matthews has warned overturning the ruling through the courts would be challenge. He saw no obvious grounds for an appeal as yet, and said the courts were increasingly inclined to defer to "expert regulators" such as the commission. The commission had said it would have exercised discretion not to object to an appeal even if one hadn't been filed until 20 working days after it released its decisions for its ruling. However, the decision on whether to allow an appeal after tomorrow's deadline would ultimately have been down to the High Court. Sky explained in a release to the NZX that the companies had filed appeals "within the statutory time period for an appeal in order to preserve their rights", while they waited for the opportunity to assess the Commerce Commission's reasons for its decision.
Sky Television and watch New Zealand have filed an objection to the New & Trading Commission over its refusal to clear their planned merger . The companies have yet to reveal if they will take the case to court . The watchdog has not yet released its detailed explanation for announcing the merger .