The EU court of justice has ruled that the Italian law requiring French media giant Vivendi to freeze its stake in broadcaster Mediaset on antitrust grounds infringed the bloc's regulations. The decision was in line with the opinion of the ECJ’s advocate general, who declared in December that national legislation must be be "proportionate to the objective of protecting information pluralism" and that Vivendi was not "effectively in a position to exert a considerable influence" on Mediaset.
The French company was forced to transfer 19 percent of its Mediaset stake into the Simon Fiduciaria trust in 2018 to comply with an antitrust ruling from Italian communications regulator Agcom that was prompted by Vivendi's existing 24 percent stake in Telecom Italia (TIM). The ECJ’s ruling should now help Vivendi regain voting rights for its full 29 percent stake in Mediaset, which is 44 percent owned by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi through his family’s Fininvest holding. Italy’s Gasparri Law and other media laws on which Agcom’s decision was based were in part inspired by concerns over Berlusconi’s combined political and media power.
In a statement welcoming the ECJ’s judgment, Vivendi said it had “always acted in strict compliance with Italian law and was forced to defend its interests in court after Mediaset referred to Agcom in the sole desire to prevent Vivendi from participating in its shareholders meetings.” The company added that it remained committed to Italy and “confirms its willingness to be a long-term investor in this beautiful country.”
Mediaset responded with a statement acknowledging the ECJ’s ruling, adding that it “contains issues that will need to be examined in subsequent phases before a competent national judge”. However, the broadcaster said it was ready to “evaluate with great interest” any opportunity to invest in the Italian telecommunications sector “if there were to be the possibility for convergence between leading players in both the TLC and television broadcasting sectors”.
The opportunities it may now consider include the proposed government-sponsored plan to set up a nationwide fibre-optic network called AccessCo, said Mediaset.
