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Bankruptcy Judge Marvin Isgur yesterday placed the parent company of Comcast SportsNet Houston under chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the Houston Chronicle reported today. Judge Isgur’s order came at the conclusion of a day-long hearing at which attorneys for Comcast and the Rockets asked that the case remain under bankruptcy court jurisdiction and the Astros asked that the case be dismissed. Dismissal would have resulted in the almost certain demise of the 16-month-old network owned by the Astros, Rockets and Comcast, which is owned by a limited partnership known as Houston Regional Sports Network. Isgur’s order assures that the network will remain in operation while the three network partners work on a reorganization plan. A key to that plan will be arranging the carriage agreements that management has thus far been unable to arrange with such major carriers as DirecTV, Dish Network, AT&T U-verse and Suddenlink. CSN Houston at present is available to no more than 40 percent of the Houston area’s 2.2 million TV households. Judge Isgur set a Friday hearing for the next phase of the bankruptcy case, which was filed last September by four Comcast affiliates. The Astros had sought dismissal of the case so they could retain their broadcast rights and shop them to another carrier, which would have doomed the network.

W.R. Grace & Co. emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy yesterday, ending an almost 13-year saga for the Columbia, Md.-based building products and chemical maker, the Baltimore Business Journal reported today. Grace filed for chapter 11 protection in April 2001 amid a raft of asbestos-related claims against the company. Now that it has emerged from bankruptcy, Grace could institute a dividend on its common stock. Exiting bankruptcy will allow the company to return cash to shareholders, said Rich Badmington, a Grace spokesman. But the company has not made any announcement about whether it intends to launch a dividend, Badmington said. Two trusts Grace established as part of its court-approved bankruptcy reorganization plan will pay personal injury claimants and property owners in full, Grace said. The trusts will be funded by more than $4 billion in cash, stock warrants, insurance proceeds and other sources.

The owner of Hot Dog on a Stick, the employee-owned purveyor of corn dogs and deep-fried cheese in dozens of malls in the western U.S., filed for bankruptcy to reorganize and cut real estate costs, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. HDOS Enterprises listed debt of less than $10 million and less than $50 million in assets in a chapter 11 petition filed yesterday. The chain “signed some very expensive leases during the booming economy of the mid-2000s,” Chief Executive Officer Dan Smith said in a statement. It also suffered from a decline in foot traffic at the malls where it does much of its business.

Cengage Learning Inc. said yesterday that it reached an agreement with its major creditors that will cut the textbook publisher's debt by $4 billion and pave the way to exit chapter 11 protection, Reuters reported yesterday. The company said that the agreement will modify a previously filed reorganization plan and gives it the support needed to confirm its plan in March. Prior to the agreement, the company had $5.8 billion of outstanding debt, much of it accumulated as a result of a leveraged buyout led by Apax Partners in 2007. The private equity fund acquired Cengage, which develops teaching materials for schools and libraries, for $7.75 billion from Thomson Reuters Corp.

Archetypes, a startup that flew under the radar of the New York tech scene, burned through more than $19 million in just two years on a website that never launched out of beta, CNNMoney.com reported yesterday. Archetypes raised debt from its executive chairman, Philosophy cosmetics founder Cristina Carlino, but it was not enough to stay in business. In November, the company filed for chapter 11 protection with between $10 million and $50 million in liabilities owed to between 50 and 99 debtors. On Jan. 16, Archetypes emerged from bankruptcy thanks to Carlino, who already owned 49.5 percent of the company. Archetypes was acquired by CC Bridge Lender, the vehicle which Carlino used to provide debt.

With a bankruptcy auction already in the works, Dots LLC has "several" potential buyers interested in running the women's clothing retailer as a continuing business, according to Kenneth Rosen, a lawyer for the ailing chain, the Wall Street Journal reported today. "Several of the potential suitors are looking at Dots as a going concern — which is what the company wants to see," Mr. Rosen, of Lowenstein Sandler LLP, said yesterday. Court papers say that there is no committed opening bid yet, and hence no guarantee that Dots won't fall into the hands of liquidators at a planned Feb. 28 auction. However, interest among bidders in keeping Dots alive means hope for the 400-store chain of discount-clothing outlets and its 3,500 employees. Dots filed for chapter 11 protection Jan. 20 and signed up $36 million worth of financing from existing lender Salus Capital Partners LLC.

Wireless venture LightSquared has reached a deal for a short-term bankruptcy loan from the holders of its bank debt, a group that includes Dish Network Corp. Chairman Charlie Ergen, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The $33 million loan proposal comes three days after LightSquared said for the first time that it would include Ergen in its reorganization plan. A hearing on the loan, which would keep LightSquared afloat as it negotiates a restructuring proposal, is set for today. As recently as last week, Ergen, a group of hedge funds holding LightSquared’s bank debt, and Fortress Investment Group LLC had all proposed separate loans.

Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane granted chapter 15 protection to Zlomrex International Finance SA, the London-based finance arm of Polish steel maker Cognor SA, a key element of its debt-exchange effort now underway in the U.K., Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. The Polish steel maker is seeking to restructure 126.1 million euros ($172.5 million) in debt that was due in February.

LightSquared Inc. and its various creditors are in talks to devise a consensual plan to restructure the wireless company's assets and end its bankruptcy, Reuters reported on Friday. LightSquared, owned by Phil Falcone's Harbinger Capital Partners, is trying to bridge disagreements among proponents of three separate reorganization proposals currently on the table, according to Paul Basta, a lawyer for a special committee overseeing the company's restructuring. The talks so far do not include representatives for Dish Network Corp Chairman Charles Ergen, whose debt holdings make him LightSquared's largest single creditor. LightSquared has accused Ergen of surreptitiously buying the debt to effect a takeover of LightSquared by Dish, a key competitor. A trial on that dispute remains ongoing.

Tuscany International Drilling Inc filed for chapter 11 protection yesterday, a court filing showed, as liquidity constraints pressed the Canadian contract driller to cut its debt load and explore strategic alternatives, Reuters reported today. The oil driller said that revenue and rig utilization have fallen over the last year due to stiff competition in the oilfield services market, leading to cash shortages. The company estimated liabilities and assets of $100 million to $500 million, according to the filing. As per an amended credit agreement with its lenders, the company said that it will have about $237 million of outstanding debt.