The hearing on Vivendi’s appeal against the Italian antitrust judgment has been postponed

MILAN (Reuters) – An Italian regional court said it would postpone the first hearing of an appeal filed by Vivendi from the decision of the Italian Communications Authority regarding the French group’s shares in Telecom Italia and Mediaset .

AGCOM authorities said last year that Vivendi’s building of shares in both the telecommunications company and the broadcaster violated rules designed to prevent the concentration of power in Italy’s telecommunications and media sectors.

It asked the French group to reduce its shares in one of the two companies. Last year, Vivendi appealed against this verdict.

The District Court announced on its website that the appeal hearing would take place on July 4. It was previously scheduled for February 7.

One source close to the matter said Vivendi had requested the postponement after talks with AGCOM to buy time while the French group was in negotiations with Mediaset to find a way out of its failed pay-TV deal.

When the dispute over the pay TV contract broke out, Vivendi quickly built a 28.8% stake. shares in the Italian broadcaster. The French group also owns 24% of Telecom Italia (TIM).

(Reporting by Stefano Rebaudo and Francesca Landini; writing by Francesca Landini; editing by Andrew Bolton)