(Bloomberg) --
Italy's Mediaset SpA and France's Vivendi SE could reach an accord as soon as this weekend to resolve a dispute over a scrapped pay-TV deal, daily la Repubblica reported on Saturday.
The two companies have been fighting since 2016, when the French media conglomerate dropped a plan to buy a Mediaset pay-television unit. Mediaset has sought billions of euros in damages from Vivendi, which is also the largest shareholder of Italy's former phone monopoly, Telecom Italia SpA.
As part of an agreement to settle the dispute, Vivendi could sell off a stake of more than 19% in Mediaset it controls through Simon Fiduciaria within five years, Repubblica said. Vivendi would at that point effectively control less than 10% of the company.
A Milan court ruled on April 19 that Vivendi didn't have to pay as much as 3 billion euros ($3.6 billion) of damages after the French media conglomerate scrapped the pay-TV deal.
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