MILAN (Reuters) - A Milan-based judge set Feb. 1 as the date for a new hearing for a request by France's Vivendi (PA:VIV) to suspend a corporate overhaul at Italy's top commercial broadcaster Mediaset (MI:MS), two legal sources said on Tuesday.
Controlled by the family of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Mediaset (MI:MS) wants to merge its Italian and Spanish (MC:TL5) units into a Dutch entity, dubbed MediaforEurope (MFE).
The broadcaster wants to use the new entity to pursue tie-ups in Europe to take on competition from streaming apps such as Netflix (O:NFLX) and web giants like Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL)
But Vivendi, which is Mediaset's second largest shareholder with a 29% stake, is fighting the project in court, saying the governance structure of the new entity would strengthen Berlusconi's grip on the company.
Mediaset faces a March deadline to see its Dutch holding company plan through, otherwise the decisions of a September shareholder meeting that approved the project will no longer be valid based on existing Dutch laws.