MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's top commercial broadcaster Mediaset (MI:MS) said on Wednesday it had dropped a plan to merge its domestic and Spanish business under a Dutch holding company, after a Madrid court ruling last month made it impossible to complete the project in the time available.
It said it believed the project, aimed at building tie-ups with peers in Europe, was valid and it would seek other ways of implementing the project which was stymied by opposition from the group's second-largest shareholder, French group Vivendi . (PA:VIV)
Controlled by the family of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Mediaset said it was ready to open a dialogue with Vivendi if the French group were genuinely interested in talks in the interest of all shareholders.
But it added that a letter from Vivendi which said the French group was ready to support Mediaset's cross-border initiatives was "unsatisfactory" and had come too late.