Annunziata says the broadcasting board is in a "precarious situation"

Italy's state TV chief has said she will resign if the Italian government passes a controversial media bill.

Critics say the new law could give more media control to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

The country's leader already owns a huge media empire covering commercial television, newspapers, publishing and advertising.

TV chief Lucia Annunziata is head of the current state broadcasting board but this is due to be disbanded by February 2004 if the bill goes through.

The new law will also allow cross-ownership between broadcast and print and would allow further expansion of Mr Berlusconi's main media holding company, Mediaset.

Ms Annunziata voiced concerns about falling audiences, political spats over content and problems getting advertising in a speech on Tuesday.

"I don't think that these needs can be addressed seriously by a board that will operate in the upcoming months, for clear reasons, in precarious conditions," she said.

The Italian Prime Minister visited George Bush earlier this week

The bill has already been passed by the Senate and now has to be approved by the chamber of deputies, although this is expected to be a mere formality.

The proposed law would also allow Mediaset to retain all three of its main TV channels, even though court rulings say it must sell one of them off.

The Prime Minister's conservative coalition insists the law only intends to make the Italian telecommunications industry more competitive.

Mr Berlusconi is Italy's richest man and first entered the political arena in 1993 with his own party, Forza Italia - Go Italy.

He became prime minister in 1994, forming a coalition with the right-wing National Alliance and Northern League.

The government collapsed seven months later but he was back in charge by 2001, with the same coalition.

He is currently president of the EU but caused controversy recently when he appeared to compare a heckling German MEP to a Nazi concentration camp guard during a speech to the European Parliament.