Italian private TV group Mediaset on February 6 bought a 10 per cent stake in business news channel Class Financial Network (CFN), backed by financial publisher Class Editori and a consortium of Italian banks. The CFN deal was conducted through Mediaset’s new subsidiary Mediadigit, which is responsible for all the group’s activities in the digital TV and new media sectors. It came only days after Class Editori signed an agreement with Societa Interbancaria per l’automazione (SIA) which will permit interested Italian banks to provide home banking services via the CFN channel. This latest agreement was signed with the active participation of Telecom Italia, which is a shareholder in both SIA and Stream, the digital platform which distributes the CFN channel. Among the banks which have expressed their interest in participating are Banca Intesa, Unicredito, Banca di Roma, Bipop, Popolare di Verona, Popolare di Vicenza, Banca Mediolanum, as well as Servizi Interbancari (Cartasi), Diners Club Italia and Cerved.

In the past weeks, rumours have been circulating that Mediaset is considering possible alliances with Murdoch’s News Corp, Telecom Italia and even Viacom. The latter, which is both Kirch’s and Silvio Berlusconi’s ally in the TV sector, is known to be evaluating ways of expanding its interests in Europe. In a recent interview, Viacom president Sumner Redstone said that his group was considering re-launching a German version of Nickelodeon, and that contacts to that effect had been made both with Kirch and Berlusconi.

Well informed sources say that the agreement signed last autumn between Berlusconi and colleagues Murdoch, Kirch and Prince Al Waleed for the launch of a pan-European media empire expires on February 23 and that over the past few months, the various partners have been evaluating what they could bring to the table. Stakes in the European superholding, which will be based in Luxembourg, will be taken by the interested parties (Al Waleed will be the only one to pay in cash).

On February 3, Mediaset confirmed its interest in participating in a pan-European commercial TV venture with the Kirch group which could be extended to other European partners, but stated that no negotiations were currently going on with specific partners in the TV sector either in France or in the UK.