Newspaper and magazine publishers are seeking a last-minute injunction to stop the proposed royal charter on press regulation being approved later.
They will argue at the High Court that the Privy Council failed to consult the industry adequately or to consider its own proposed charter properly.
The Times's Roger Alton said the deal "stitched up" by politicians and lobbyists would be resisted.
The row follows the phone-hacking affair and subsequent Leveson Inquiry.
Newspaper and magazine publishers fear the charter agreed by political parties means the end of a free press - which its supporters deny.
BBC media correspondent David Sillito said the charter proposed by the three main political parties was on the verge of approval after "months of wrangling".
The Press Standards Board of Finance (Pressbof), which raises money from the newspaper industry to fund the current regulator, the Press Complaints Commission, said that process had been unfair and wants a judicial review.
At the High Court, Pressbof will ask two senior judges for permission to seek a judicial review of the Privy Council's decision to reject the press-backed royal charter.
Pressbof claims the application was not dealt with fairly, that the government and Privy Council failed to consult with the press and that the procedures used were "irrational".
'Proper and fair'Lord Black of Brentwood, chairman of Pressbof, said the decision to go to court had been made because of the "enormous ramifications for free speech" of the case.
Last week a newspaper industry source told the BBC he hoped the court action would put the politicians' plan on hold, but the government said it would push ahead.
Media commentator Steve Hewlett told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that what the newspapers were hoping to do now tactically was to induce delay.
"The whole point is if they can induce enough delay they hope that when Ipso (Independent Press Standards Organisation) - their self-regulator - is up and running, as time goes by the political pressure for further reform as we approach an election in 2015 will begin to evaporate.
"So to that extent it becomes a game of chicken, because they're gambling that no party will want to go into the election waving press reform, which may turn out not to be right."
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Maria Miller told Parliament there must be a "fair system" of press regulation
Lawyers for Culture Secretary Maria Miller will oppose the legal challenge.
A spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said the industry royal charter had been considered in "an entirely proper and fair way" and Mrs Miller had secured significant changes to the cross-party charter to address press concerns.
"The government is working to bring in a system of independent press self-regulation that will protect press freedom while offering real redress when mistakes are made," the spokesman said.
The rival royal charters are similar in some respects, with both proposing a "recognition panel" to oversee a press self-regulation committee with powers to impose fines of up to £1m on newspapers for wrongdoing.
But while the press charter would require industry-wide approval for any amendments, the politicians' version could be changed by a two-thirds majority in Parliament - and some in the media claim this could let governments encroach on press freedom.
Mr Alton - who is the executive editor of the Times - told the Today programme that Ipso would be an "extremely tough" regulator.
"You sign a contract into the regulator and you are liable for extremely severe fines," he said.
"The idea that somehow a deal stitched up between a few politicians over pizzas and a handful of lobbyists from Hacked Off, which is essentially an anti-newspaper group, the idea that such a deal is the thing that now controls the press, which is one of the most vital safeguards in our democracy, I find extraordinarily depressing, very sad ... It will be resisted."
Various forms of press regulation have been proposed following the Leveson Inquiry into the culture, practice and ethics of the press, set up in the wake of revelations about phone hacking by journalists.
The Privy Council, whose active members must be government ministers, meets in private to formally advise the Queen to approve "Orders" which have already been agreed by ministers.
Royal charters are granted by the Privy Council to "bodies that work in the public interest" - in this case a proposed press regulator.
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