Italian broadcaster Mediaset has “asked a Milan court to enforce the agreed sale of its pay-TV arm to French media company Vivendi,” according to Za & Rosemain of REUTERS. Mediaset also said in a statement that it risked losing €1.5B ($1.7B) if Vivendi "did not honor the deal struck in April." Vivendi last month rejected the terms for its purchase of pay-TV unit Premium, saying that "its analysis of Premium's financial forecasts differed from those provided by Mediaset." Vivendi declined to comment (REUTERS, 8/19). ADVANCED TELEVISION's Branislav Pekic reported Mediaset is requesting €50M ($56.6M) in damages "for each month of delay" in the implementation of the agreement as of July 25, the date when Vivendi "allegedly backtracked from the deal." According to the April deal, Vivendi was supposed to take 100% of Mediaset Premium "and the two partners would also swap 3.5 percent stakes in each other" (ADVANCED TELEVISION, 8/22). VARIETY's Nick Vivarelli wrote Mediaset shares "tumbled in the ensuing war of words." Mediaset’s stock value has dropped 14% "since the deal collapsed, according to a calculation by Italian financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore." At this stage, Mediaset is "not asking for those damages," indicating the company is "still seeking to negotiate." The Mediaset statement said, "The damages sought concern purely the delay accumulated so far and possible further delays caused by inventive and dilatory proposals of different accords than the one in place" (VARIETY, 8/21).
