Another fine Messier

Rupert Murdoch and Jean-Marie Messier are set for another bitter battle after plans to merge their Italian pay-TV businesses collapsed under pressure from local regulators.

The duo hatched a plan for Telepui, owned by Mr Messier's Vivendi Universal, to buy News Corporation's Stream business in an attempt to stem losses from the two ventures running at more than €500m (£310m) a year.

But the Italian competition authorities said they would need at least 10 major concessions to protect customers, or else the merger was off.

Mr Messier decided the terms were too tough and said he was dropping the deal. But Mr Murdoch claimed that the move was motivated by Vivendi's debt problems and said he would force the French group to go through with the deal.

Stream and Telepui have battled it out in the Italian pay-TV market, using football as their weapons. Both sides have signed top teams to exclusive deals but sales of pay-TV "season tickets" have been disappointing.

The merger was one pool of co-operation amid an ocean of bad feeling between Mr Murdoch and Mr Messier, who only a few months ago was seen as his main challenger for the title of global media mogul.

The squabbles reached a crescendo when Vivendi's Canal Plus sued a News Corp subsidiary for allegedly publishing information that would help pirates obtain Canal Plus' pay-TV services free.

Last week Vivendi sold its 14 per cent stake in BSkyB, the satellite TV business where News Corp has a 34 per cent stake. This cut Vivendi's debts by £1.4bn but it still owes around £20bn to banks and bond holders.

Mr Messier has been suffering from Vivendi's falling share price and internal dissent, culminating in public protests after he dismissed Canal Plus boss Pierre Lescure.