LONDON (Brand Republic) - Jean-Marie Messier, chief executive of Vivendi Universal, is in merger talks with Rupert Murdoch鈥檚 News Corporation over their Italian pay-TV businesses, Telepiu and Stream, in a bid to stem losses totalling hundreds of millions of dollars.
The two media moguls are hoping to reach an agreement in four to six weeks, but previous merger talks between them have foundered. Any agreement reached would have to be passed by European and Italian regulatory authorities.
Telepiu is believed to have run at an operational loss of $195m (£136.13m) last year and Stream, which is jointly owned by News Corp and Telecom Italia, at a $200m (£139.62m) loss.
However, a merger could antagonise EU anti-trust authorities and Italian football clubs -- the latter have relied on substantial payments for long-term contracts with both broadcasters to finance the acquisition of top players and a merger could jeopardise their levels of income.
Vivendi is also dogged by other losses from its pay-TV arm Canal+ and is considering closer links with the United Pan-Europe Communications-owned Wizja, rival of its Polish digital TV business Zyfra+.