On Monday, the CEO of Italian broadcaster Mediaset stated, it plans on creating a pan-European TV champion regardless of whether it can strike a deal to settle a dispute with its second-largest shareholder Vivendi.

“We want to go ahead with our European development project… If we clinch an accord with them, fine. Otherwise, we will go another way,” said Pier Silvio Berlusconi in an interview with Italian daily Corriere della Sera.

Since 2016, have been locked in a fight after the French group decided to walk away from an agreement to acquire Mediaset’s pay-TV unit and instead built a 29% stake in the company which Mediaset considered hostile.

In a statement Berlusconi said, the group could end 2020 with a “significant, maybe even surprising” profit despite the ongoing coronavirus crisis after advertising sales in its home market grew by 4% year-on-year in the second half.

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