MILAN (Reuters) - Italian broadcaster Mediaset (>> Mediaset SpA) still expects a pay-TV deal with Vivendi (>> Vivendi), it said on Tuesday, despite a legal war with the French group and a heavy impact from the soured accord on its third-quarter results.

The two companies have been feuding since July when Vivendi backed out of an agreement that would give it full control of Mediaset's pay-TV Premium, and hand both groups a 3.5 percent stake in each other.

"We are still firm on the validity of the existing binding contract signed in April... and do not expect (any) other scenario than the execution of the contract," Mediaset Chief Financial Officer Marco Giordani told analysts in a conference call.

The Italian broadcaster is suing Vivendi for damages and is asking Milan judges to enforce the pay-TV contract. It has also requested a court to order the seizure of a 3.5 percent stake in Vivendi.

Asked whether Premium would be able to bid for two pivotal soccer TV rights tenders for Italy's top Serie A league and for Europe's Champion's league, both due to be held in the first half of next year, Giordani said Vivendi would "take care of the auctions".

Mediaset's net loss widened to 88.8 million euros ($98 million) in the third quarter from 60 million euros a year earlier.

The broadcaster also incurred 50 million euros in one-off charges related to the pay-TV accord that had not been forecast.

It said Vivendi's decision to back out of the deal slowed Premium's sales growth, up 5 percent in the third quarter, compared with a rise of 16 percent in the first six months of the year.

"We have lost the possibility to take advantage in this quarter of the exclusive football rights (owned by the pay-TV unit)," Giordani said.

Under an interim management accord envisaged in the April deal, all decisions for Mediaset's Premium had to be taken with Vivendi until the deal's closing, due at the end of September.

This limited the pay-TV unit's actions and effectively froze its commercial positioning, in the face of aggressive policies by competitors, he said.

But at the end of October Vivendi said it had ended the interim management.

"We are getting back in the driving seat," Giordani said, promising a push to boost revenues and subscriber numbers, but saying a quarter had been lost.

($1 = 0.9068 euros)

(Reporting by Giulia Segreti; editing by Agnieszka Flak/Ruth Pitchford)

Stocks treated in this article : Vivendi, Mediaset SpA