Falling advertising revenue dragged Mediaset to its first annual loss since it listed on the stock exchange 13 years ago. Italy’s largest private broadcaster recorded a net loss of €287 million for 2012 on advertising revenues down 16 per cent compared with a year earlier. It said it had taken write-offs worth €308 million on sports rights and falling advertising revenues.

Mediaset said it would not pay a dividend. Advertising sales continued to fall in the first months of this year and it declined to make forecasts, it added.

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