Vivendi questions Mediaset Premium value, looks to cut stake

(Telecompaper) Italian broadcaster Mediaset has announced that French media giant Vivendihas backtracked on its plan to acquire 100 percent of pay TV unit Mediaset Premium, submitting a new proposal to take a 20 percent stake, plus 15 percent in three years' time through a convertible bond issue. Mediaset said it received a letter from Vivendi "absolutely out of the blue" that was in "clear contradiction" with what it described as a binding agreement to acquire Mediaset's 89 percent stake in the