Mediaset CEO Maurizio Carlotti is expected to resign this week ending a power struggle that has shaken up Italy' largest commercial broadcasting group.

Carlotti's resignation has not yet been made public, but sources at Silvio Berlusconi's TV outfit say the resignation came at the request of several top executives after a battle between Carlotti and Mediaset advertising president Mario Brugloa ended in Brugloa's resignation.

Carlotti was instrumental in creating Mediaset and Kirch Group's pan-European production and acquisition alliance, Epsilon (previously called Eureka), which was officially presented at Kirch's annual brunch at this week's MIP-TV programming market.

Carlotti took his position at Mediaset in July 1998 after having headed Mediaset's Spanish TV subsidiary TeleCinco where he was credited with saving the Spanish company from bankruptcy.