8-12 June: Your guide to what’s happened this week in the media, entertainment and technology industry.

French broadcaster Vivendi has launched new legal action against Mediaset in its latest attempt to stop a pan-European restructure at the Italian firm it part-owns.

In a statement to Spanish securities markets regulator CNMV, Mediaset Spain confirmed that Vivendi launched legal proceedings against changes to the merger plan adopted at a February shareholder meeting.

Vivendi is Mediaset’s second biggest shareholder and is opposed to a move by the biggest shareholder, the Berlusconi Family’s Fininvest, to create a new European media company that will be based in The Netherlands.

Vivendi owns a 28% stake in the company but claims the restructure would unfairly favour Fininvest.

Disney+ becomes UK’s third largest SVOD

Disney’s OTT streaming platform Disney+ skyrocketed to become the UK’s third most-used subscription video service within a month of launching.

According to figures from Omdia, Disney saw 4.3 million sign-ups by the end of April - little over a month after the service went live in Europe on 24 March.

This would make Disney+ the third largest SVOD in the UK, behind Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

“Disney+ arrived in the UK just as Covid-19 social distancing and quarantine measures commenced,” said Maria Rua Aguete, senior research director, video, TV and advertising for Omdia and author of the Consumer Research - Devices, Media & Usage Intelligence Service - Premium report.

BBC strikes W Series esports deal

The BBC has partnered with motor racing championship W Series in a deal that will see every race of the brand-new W Series Esports League season broadcast across its digital platforms.

The W Series is a women’s only motor racing esports championship in which competitors race on 10 of the greatest circuits in the world.

The BBC will show every race in 10 x 90-minute broadcasts across BBC iPlayer, BBC Red Button and BBC Sport website.

It comes as more broadcasters look to seize on the esports opportunity as normal sports have been locked down during the coronavirus pandemic, although many sports are now planning to restart over the coming months.

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