Mediaset, Vivendi to request hearing delay as they seek deal - source

MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's Mediaset and France's Vivendi are set to ask a Milan judge to adjourn a Dec. 19 hearing over a failed pay-TV deal in view of a potential agreement, a source close to the matter said on Friday.

The two groups have engaged in a legal battle since the French group's surprise decision to pull out of an April 2016 contract which would have handed it full control of Mediaset's pay-TV unit Premium.

An Italian judge had asked the two companies to seek an agreement over the case. Sources close to the matter have said that the two sides are in talks over a possible deal.

The Milan-based TV group had been seeking to enforce the sale contract.

Mediaset and the Berlusconi family's holding company Fininvest, which owns just under 40 percent of the broadcaster, are seeking 3 billion euros in damages.

The source said the postponement request would be made at the start of the Dec. 19 hearing.

(Reporting by Stefano Rebaudo, writing by Giulia Segreti, editing by Jason Neely)