The legal battle between Mediaset and Vivendi is entering a new phase with the Italian private broadcaster claiming €3 billion in damages.
Berlusconi’s RTI, and holding company Fininvest, are suing the French company for the termination of the Premium agreement in April 2016, for a figure that is double the amount claimed earlier this year.
Vivendi has since built up a 28.8% stake in Mediaset in a move that led communications regulator Agcom to order the French company to reduce its stake in the broadcaster or in Telecom Italia by April 2018.
With regards to the Agcom point of view, Vivendi considers that the provisions of the Italian Government’s ‘golden power law’ are inapplicable, both because of the nature of the activities carried out by Telecom Italia and because of the lack of control over the Italian operator.
Instead, a plan is being discussed with Agcom to define the way in which Vivendi will comply with the Authority’s decision to comply with Italian legislation on concentration between telecom and media.
Communications Authority ruled on April 18, 2016, that Vivendi cannot simultaneously maintain the current shareholding in Telecom (24%) and Mediaset (29.9%), as this position violates the current rules of the radio and television broadcasting.
Before the summer break, the French group submitted a first plan of compliance to Agcom for the authority’s decision. In a subsequent note, Agcom had stressed the need for new discussions between the competent offices and Vivendi in order to detail how the French group intended to structurally remove the prohibited positio’.
In its quarterly financial report, Vivendi points out that the authority allowed it 12 months to comply with the measure and appealed against the decision. The decision of the Regional Administrative Court on the appeal is expected in the first half of 2018.
