Future of Premier League broadcaster insecure (Setanta)

[fah-q]

Fit bird in the ad though.

[Craig_H]

Setanta 'on brink' of administration


Deloitte are on stand-by to act as administrator for the firm unless they agree a last-minute rescue with their investors, the Sunday Times and the Sunday Telegraph have claimed.

The Irish firm, who televised England's 4-0 World Cup qualifying win away to Kazakhstan on Saturday, are struggling to pay cash owed to football associations under their rights deals.

Setanta - which was unavailable for comment - has about 1.2 million customers but this is well below the 1.9 million they need to break even, according to the Sunday Times.

If the company fail to cut their rights payments or raise more cash from investors and fall into administration, it could trigger a fire-sale of TV rights, including the England national team's away qualifiers and FA Cup matches.

ITV and Setanta won the contract from the Football Association in 2007 before the recession hit, impacting on advertising revenues.

The FA are said to have rebuffed attempts by Setanta to reduce their £150million share of the £425million four-year deal by 25%.

Setanta also have rights to screen matches from the Barclays Premier League, who are awaiting a £35million payment later this month, the Sunday Times claimed.

Last week they failed to pay the £3million owed to the Scottish Premier League under the final instalment of this season's TV deal, and have until Monday to come up with the cash.

They have also been seeking to cut the price of their current £125million deal with the SPL, who have agreed to pay the £3million outstanding from funds to their 12 member clubs to ease the financial pressure.

The two founders of the business, Irishmen Michael O'Rourke and Leonard Ryan, set up Setanta in 1990. Deloitte were unavailable for comment.

Tick tock.

[Guest]

Setanta going bust

Setanta 'is on brink of collapse'

Setanta faces administration "within days" unless backers provide more funds to pay £30m it owes to the English Premier League, reports suggest.

The broadcaster has already failed to pay the Scottish Premier League £3m it owes in television rights money.

Setanta, which also shows cricket, golf and rugby union, has about 1.2 million subscribers, but is losing up to £100m a year, analysts say.

Deloitte is set to step in to run the firm if it goes into administration.

'Weaker' matches

The rights to show the English Premier League - and the subscribers that this pulls in - lie at the heart of Setanta's business model.

But the firm had only about 60% of the subscribers it needed to break even, said Professor Chris Brady of the BPP Business School.

"They have predicated the whole thing on getting those subscribers. The problem is they are taking on Goliath in BSkyB," he told the BBC.

Not only did Setanta have only a small percentage of televised Premier League games, but they tended to be "weaker" matches, he added.

There had also been problems with customer service, Professor Brady told the BBC.

Falling values?

Setanta's viability was cast into doubt earlier this year when it lost the rights to show 46 live Premier League matches from 2010/2011.

In future it will show only 23 games per season, compared with BSkyB's 115, with industry observers saying that thousands of customers would give up their subscriptions.

It is expected that a rival broadcaster - perhaps ESPN - would buy up its Premier League football rights.

But the worsening economy has led observers to suggest that the rights to 46 games which Setanta holds for next season, the final year of its current contract, would not be worth as much as they had been.

There are also doubts about whether the Premier League could match the £159m Setanta paid for the right to screen 23 Premier League games each season from 2010-11.

A shared deal with ITV saw them secure rights for England and FA Cup matches for £425m - and it is likely another firm would buy up these rights.


Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/8090633.stm

Published: 2009/06/09 06:37:05 GMT

© BBC MMIX

[Kenneth]

There are also doubts about whether the Premier League could match the £159m Setanta paid for the right to screen 23 Premier League games each season from 2010-11.

So the PL have to buy TV rights from themselves

[red g]

wonder where that leaves the lfc channel?

[Tee]

Would now be a good time to call and cancel my subs? Hope that they offer me a serious discount to stay subscribed.

[dom9]

Setanta are terrible, but I get their channels free with Virgin at the moment. Them going bust will cost me more money.

[Montana]

If it gets Tim Sherwood off the telly then im happy

[Fivex]

They offered me a discount down from £12.99 to £10.99 when I left them about 4 months ago.

They tried to convince me it was the deal of the century. I told them it wasn't and that I'd rather flush my own head down the toilet than spend another minute trying to watch their sorry excuse for a service.

[DaveMc68]

They offered me a discount down from £12.99 to £10.99 when I left them about 4 months ago.

They tried to convince me it was the deal of the century. I told them it wasn't and that I'd rather flush my own head down the toilet than spend another minute trying to watch their sorry excuse for a service.

Did you have to pay the 3 months notice when you cancelled or was it a straight cut off.

I rang to cancel a couple of months ago but decided to keep it on when they got down to £6 per month.

Think I'll still cancel later this week though.

[Fivex]

Did you have to pay the 3 months notice when you cancelled or was it a straight cut off.

I rang to cancel a couple of months ago but decided to keep it on when they got down to £6 per month.

Think I'll still cancel later this week though.

It's not 3 months notice

I had to email them a notice of termination and it was 1 months notice, from the next payment date I think, which turned out to be only a week afterwards. I think you've been blagged maybe due to the difficulties they're having?

[DaveMc68]

No, it wasn't something they said, I just had it in the back of my mind from when I first signed up (but that was a few years ago now so I probably just remember it wrong).

At £6p/m I thought it was worht keeping over the summer to see what games they get next season. By the looks of it though I don't think they'll be around next season so I may as well cut and run.

[Charly]

It angered me considerably when the European Union interfered with the tv football contracts - in the interest of the consumer, leaving us with an extra channel or two to subscribe to. Sky, for all its faults, is great at presenting football, and I would be more than happy to just pay the single subscription each month, rather than for Santanata on top,who lets face it are a bit rubbish anyway.

After the ITV fiasco, isnt it about time someone like Gordon Brown (no,not Gordon Brown, but sombody with credability tough....) went and told the EU to go and **** itself, as we can decide for ourselves whats fair, thank you very much.

[andyhanrahan]

I'd miss Special 1 tv v good

[TheStig]

I'd miss Special 1 tv v good