Setanta in administration with loss of 200 jobs as rescue bid fails

Jun 24 2009 by Anna Blackaby, Birmingham Post

Struggling sports broadcaster Setanta Sport has gone into administration with the loss of 200 jobs after efforts to rescue the business failed.

The firm, hit by the loss of football television rights in England and Scotland, will go off-air to viewers in Britain shortly, administrator Deloitte said. But the administrator said Setanta’s international and Ireland businesses would continue to trade while talks with possible buyers are under way.

Setanta, with 1.2 million subscribers, has suspended the collection of subscription payments from customers in the UK. Administrator Neville Kahn said: “After a huge effort by the Setanta board, management team and its backers, it has not been possible to save the GB business.”

The move comes 24 hours after the Premier League handed Setanta’s football rights – containing 46 matches for the 2009-10 season and 23 matches per season from 2010-11 to 2012-13 – to United States broadcaster ESPN.

News of the Premier League’s sale followed an announcement on Monday by the Scottish Premier League that it was ditching Setanta and looking for another television partner. Cash-strapped Setanta missed a £3 million payment to the SPL and failed to meet a deadline for a £10 million payment to the Premier League last week – prompting the auction. It was unable to pay the Premier League following the collapse of a potential rescue deal with US tycoon Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries.

Setanta’s backers – private equity firms Doughty Hanson and Balderton Capital, and Goldman Sachs – were “prepared to commit substantial additional funds” in return for an improved performance, the firm said. But it was not enough to return the firm to profit.