Setanta in talks on sport rights as it tries to deal with cash-flow problems

Dithering_Dad

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8032371.stm


"The Irish pay-TV broadcaster Setanta is trying to renegotiate its contracts to screen sporting events, as it tries to deal with cash-flow problems. It is due to pay the Football Association £35m on 15 May for the rights to broadcast its games.
There has been concern among investors after it only managed to secure new rights for half of the live Premier League games it currently broadcasts.
But the company has said there is no question of it defaulting on payments. "

As a good Moneysaver, I have Freeview instead of Sky TV, but was attracted to Setanta as they have a lot of boxing and some Prem games. The other appeal was that there wasn't a subscription and that I was supposed to have some free months for purchasing a CAM from Currys.

Well, the free months never materialised and it was the devil to get in touch with them to cancel the membership. With customer service like that, no wonder they're in trouble. :rolleyes:

If Setanta goes under, will SKY be able to negotiate a cheaper deal for Premiership football? Will this impact the finances of the larger premiership clubs? Is this the beginning of the end of the 'greed league'?

jamespmg44

Dithering_Dad wrote: »

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8032371.stm


"The Irish pay-TV broadcaster Setanta is trying to renegotiate its contracts to screen sporting events, as it tries to deal with cash-flow problems. It is due to pay the Football Association £35m on 15 May for the rights to broadcast its games.
There has been concern among investors after it only managed to secure new rights for half of the live Premier League games it currently broadcasts.
But the company has said there is no question of it defaulting on payments. "

As a good Moneysaver, I have Freeview instead of Sky TV, but was attracted to Setanta as they have a lot of boxing and some Prem games. The other appeal was that there wasn't a subscription and that I was supposed to have some free months for purchasing a CAM from Currys.

Well, the free months never materialised and it was the devil to get in touch with them to cancel the membership. With customer service like that, no wonder they're in trouble. :rolleyes:

If Setanta goes under, will SKY be able to negotiate a cheaper deal for Premiership football? Will this impact the finances of the larger premiership clubs? Is this the beginning of the end of the 'greed league'?

I don't think it will have the slightest impact on premier league clubs (at least until 2013) however up here in Scotland it will have a huge impact on all the clubs with the exception of Celtic.

The end of the season will be very interesting as I'm sure a lot of folk who have Setanta/Sky Sports only for football will be calling up to cancel - I know I will.

sjaypink

jamespmg44 wrote: »

I don't think it will have the slightest impact on premier league clubs

no, i dont. but wonder what will happen with the blue square? several of the conference clubs are in the !!!!!! as it is. imagine the setanta coverage is worth a bit of money to them?

jamespmg44

sjaypink wrote: »

no, i dont. but wonder what will happen with the blue square? several of the conference clubs are in the !!!!!! as it is. imagine the setanta coverage is worth a bit of money to them?

I'd imagine the conference deal is worth a bit less than the SPL deal so the clubs are probably getting less than a million a year.

If the clubs are in a bad way then you're right this would probably push them over the edge. It will do the same up here - if Setanta pulls out i'd expect at least 1 SPL team to go into administration.

confused31_2

jamespmg44 wrote: »

I don't think it will have the slightest impact on premier league clubs (at least until 2013) however up here in Scotland it will have a huge impact on all the clubs with the exception of Celtic.

The end of the season will be very interesting as I'm sure a lot of folk who have Setanta/Sky Sports only for football will be calling up to cancel - I know I will.

someone will buy the rights for scottish football, if you really dont think anyone will take over get yourself a art sports card they are about 80 pound for 12 months and they show loads of scottish football.

Setanta is rubbish, its just premiership plus with a few more sports channels and a higher fee, and its a nightmare to cancel.

I wouldnt be surprised if sky have something to do with setanta, theyre just as sneaky.

jamespmg44

confused31 wrote: »

someone will buy the rights for scottish football, if you really dont think anyone will take over get yourself a art sports card they are about 80 pound for 12 months and they show loads of scottish football.

Setanta is rubbish, its just premiership plus with a few more sports channels and a higher fee, and its a nightmare to cancel.

I wouldnt be surprised if sky have something to do with setanta, theyre just as sneaky.

I'm not worried about the coverage mate - I go to all the games home and away

There were some rumours going around that ESPN would be buying Setanta given that NASN is now rebranded as ESPN America but who knows what will come of that.