BSkyB And ESPN Eye Up Setanta Footie Deal

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Broadcasters have been putting together bids to buy the rights to 46 English Premier league games which have been taken away from troubled Irish firm Setanta.

BSkyB and US-broadcaster ESPN are expected to buy rights to 23 games each, although they may face competition from digital pay TV service Top Up TV.

Interested parties have been given until Monday to lodge bids, although it is thought the sums they will offer for the rights may fall below what Setanta was paying.

The firm lost the right to broadcast the matches on Friday after failing to meet a deadline for a £10m payment to the Premier League - the latest chunk of the £30m it owes.

BSkyB is expected to buy Setanta's package of Monday night Premier League games, as it has already won the rights to broadcast these from 2010/2011.

However, EU legislation means it cannot own all the rights, making it likely that ESPN will pick up the Saturday teatime games.

Setanta was unable to meet its payment deadline following the collapse of a potential deal with US tycoon Len Blavatnik's Access Industries.

The deal, thought to be worth £20m, would have seen Access Industries buy a 51% stake in the broadcaster.

But it failed to go ahead after "a number of issues" were not resolved in time.

Meanwhile, the management of Setanta is understood to be meeting to look at ways to save the company.

Deloitte has been lined up to act as administrator if the firm, which employs 430 people, fails.

If Setanta did go into administration it would lead to broadcasting rights for a host of sporting events becoming available, including FA Cup matches, England games and the Scottish Premier League.

Setanta has around 1.2 million subscribers, but this is below the 1.9 million it needs to break even and it is currently thought to be running at a loss of nearly £100m a year.

It suspended new subscriptions earlier this month, prompting fears over the future of the business, and recently also missed a £3m payment to the Scottish Premier League.


Source:SkyNews