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NEW YORK — News Corp.'s Sky Italia has sued two units of Italian broadcaster Mediaset, the latest step in an ongoing battle over pay TV between media moguls Rupert Murdoch at News Corp. and Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's prime minister.
News Corp. says Mediaset's RTI and Publitalia in the Court of Milan violates antitrust laws by refusing to allow Sky Italia to purchase advertising on leading Italian commercial networks Canale 5, Italia 1 and Rete 4.
"News Corp. believes these companies have violated European Commission rules governing free competition, as well as Italian media regulation," the company said in a statement.
A Mediaset representative was not immediately available for comment.
Owned and founded by Berlusconi, Mediaset recently pushed into the country's pay television market, inhabited until recently only by Sky Italia, a wholly owned subsidiary of News Corp., which Murdoch controls.
