MaineToday Media, Inc. and the Portland Newspaper Guild have agreed to postpone an upcoming arbitration meeting aimed at settling a lawsuit.

The action comes after the company last week extended a purchase-and-sale agreement with an investor group working to buy Blethen's media properties in Maine, which include the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram.

The lawsuit stems from a contractual dispute. The company sued the union last June in U.S. District Court, asking a judge to declare that a buyer wouldn't have to honor terms of the contract between Blethen and the labor union. Failing that, the suit, in the alternative, asked the judge to force the union into immediate arbitration to settle the dispute.

The judge suggested last September that the two sides try to resolve their differences with an arbitrator. That meeting was set for Jan. 13.

Since then, Maine Media Investment LLC has been negotiating to buy Blethen's assets in Maine. The two sides had hoped to close the deal by the end of 2008. But Maine Media Investment said last month it was still unable to complete financing, and added that the company would give the group an additional 30 days or so to finalize the deal.

With the prospect of a new closing date, and because arbitration can cost tens of thousands of dollars in legal expenses, the union approached the company about putting off the Jan. 13 session, according to Kathy Munroe, administrative officer for the Portland Newspaper Guild.

"If we didn't need to make this expenditure, the better," Munroe said.

The guild informed its 300 members of the news in an e-mail today. Rob Bickler, president and chief executive officer at MaineToday Media, Inc., made a similar statement in a note to employees today.

"If for some reason the company is not sold to MMI," Bickler wrote, "MaineToday Media, Inc. and the Guild have agreed to proceed with the hearing on a future date."

Maine Media Investment is headed by Richard Connor, editor and publisher of the Times Leader newspaper in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. His partners include former Defense Secretary William Cohen; Robert Baldacci, a real estate developer and brother of Gov. John Baldacci; and Michael Liberty a former Portland developer.

Blethen's holdings in Maine also include the Kennebec Journal in Augusta, the Morning Sentinel in Waterville, the MaineToday.com Web site, The Coastal Journal in Bath and other print publications.

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