MILAN Italy AP Telecom Italia SpA said Tuesday that its board has given its new chief executive a mandate to conduct broad-based negotiations for the development of a digital platform. Later the Italian news agency AGI reported that Telecom will likely reach an agreement for a digital television platform by Christmas. No one at Telecom Italia was immediately available to comment. Telecom Italia would only say that Franco Bernabe who took up his post last week will be spearheading the company's efforts to form an alliance for satellite digital television. Last week the chairman and chief executive of News Corp. Rupert Murdoch said that News Corp. was close to signing a digital television agreement with Telecom Italia that would create a company to compete with Telepiu the pay-TV unit that is 90 percent controlled by Canal Plus SA. dj-fd APW19981201.0599.txt.body.html APW19981201.1114.txt.body.html