Italy: opening of the trial between Mediaset and Vivendi about the purchase of Mediaset Premium

The trial regarding lawsuits from both the Italian broadcaster Mediaset and the French audiovisual conglomerate Vivendi opened in Milan (ITA) on 21/03/2017. Mediaset took to the Italian courts to demand the implementation of the agreement reached on 08/04/2016 regarding the acquisition of Mediaset Premium by the French group. Vivendi then filed its own legal counter motion.

"Mediaset and its parent Fininvest require more than one and half billion euros in damages, and are sure to be right. They (Vivendi) refused to implement an agreement already signed (to acquire Mediaset Premium), creating for us serious harm both economically and in image, in addition to having created a serious problem in the management of Mediaset Premium. For us, the only possible agreement is the one signed, and, in any case, we never received any counter-proposal," said Pier Silvio Berlusconi, the vice-president of Mediaset, on 15/03/2017.

"I have nothing to say because there are no concrete negotiations," added the son of Silvio Berlusconi, about a potential merger between Sky and his group regarding…