Setanta Sports Almost Broke

[tfultz]

BBC NEWS | Business | 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 have suggested.

Not good. They failed to pay 3 million sterling to the SPL owed last week and it looks like they won;t make it past the summer. Despite the problems I have with the PPV Pub feeds in North America I really like them as a satellite channel.

Their PPV Pub coverage is huge in North America for GAA (Gaelic Football) as well as the Celtic-Rangers packages. We end up paying about $200-$300/ match for the coverage at our supporter's club. Word is the ESPN may come in to pick up the peices but since Setanta lost all but one of their EPL packages the price may be too steep.

 

[tfultz]

Just an update... Couple of lads who work for Setanta in Dublin and London said the office is starting to pack up their belongings.

I guess the announcement is expected tomorrow am

 

[meinename]

Well ******************************
Figures! Just as I get all the parts for a setup

I mean I can get Chelsea and Everton OTA on the local AmericaOne, but for SPL I had to get Setanta via Satellite

Well there goes watching the Blues finally whoop the Greens (I jest tfultz)

EDIT: Even worse is that Fox Soccer and ESPN get their clips from Setanta

Wait if ESPN gets it maybe I'll be able to watch it on ESPN360? :yikes !sadroll
Feels like a deal with the :devil:

 

[Rixta]

I have Setanta for all of their Southern hemisphere rugby......guess I'll have to go back to the web for that. It's so much easier just to DVR it but at least I'll save a couple of bucks a month.

 

[db2]

This might not be a bad thing if another channel steps in to fill the void. Personally I became frustrated with Setanta because they didn't have enough capital to do anything in HD.

Would be nice if a channel like HDNet picked up U.S. rights to some of these futbol and rugby leagues...

 

[Tony1097]

Setanta are still running adds hyping their main programming for the summer and satellites/cable companies carry Setanta. Can I look at this as good news?

 

[yaz96]

Setanta are still running adds hyping their main programming for the summer and satellites/cable companies carry Setanta. Can I look at this as good news?

I think that would just be regularly scheduled adverts running as usual.....

 

[tfultz]

I just got an email showing their 'Exciting June Lineup' I was actually surprised to see the channel still on when I got home from work.

I don't know how much Setanta US is involved with the parent Setanta. It maybe that they have enough independence to survive a cull. They do share EPL rights with FSC in the US and Canada, they do get a lot of the GAA feeds from RTE and the egg chasers feeds come from all over. The lad that owns our local seems to think they still might survive here as the PPV $ is huge.

I'm heading to Vegas tomorrow for the North America Celtic Supporters convention. I'm sure we'll here the official Setanta US statement there. The Presidents meeting is Thursday and the general meeting is on Saturday.