Setanta on brink of administration
Uncertainty surrounds the future of Setanta, which owns the rights to two packages of Premier League football games, as it teeters on the brink of collapse.
Setanta: holds Premier league football packages
Setanta is believed to be just days away from administration unless it can find £30m it owes the Premier League for football rights. If Setanta does fall into administration, it is expected that Deloitte would step in to run the company and its remaining rights could be sold off.
Setanta has one year left to run on its current £392m deal to show 46 Premier League matches. From 2010, it had signed a three-year £159m deal to show 23 games compared to Sky’s 115.
It also holds the rights to the FA Cup and England matches in a joint £425m deal with ITV. In the event of administration, it is expected a rival operator, perhaps US-based ESPN would bid for the rights.
Pubs have only been able to access Setanta games if they subscribed to Sky’s Ultimate package. But Sky would only be able to buy one package of 23 games from Setanta for next season if they are sold as it is barred from holding all the games. It would be unable to bid for the other three-year single package of 23 games.
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