Setanta Troubles

Dilbert2402

Anyone considering taking out a Setanta subscription should keep in mind their problems paying the Scottish FA and English FA money due for the existing contracts to show live football. It would appear that not only are they attempting to reduce what they wish to pay, but are having trouble raising finance and may be about to default on the latest payment to the Scottish FA.

scotsbob

The fact that the latest BBC channel managed to get the rights to broadcast a Scottish Premiere league game free to air every Saturday (albeit with a 5 hour transmission delay) and got free to air rights for the First Division is bound to affect their subscription base even further.
No wonder they are offering reduced subscriptions.

speedyrite

If Setanta does go bust, that would probably be a quick solution to the "cancellation difficulty" that a lot of people have experienced...

;-)

rich_shot2003

speedyrite wrote: »

If Setanta does go bust, that would probably be a quick solution to the "cancellation difficulty" that a lot of people have experienced...

;-)

Is there really a risk that they could go bust?

If so when could it happen and would Sky or someone take them over?

scotsbob

rich_shot2003 wrote: »

Is there really a risk that they could go bust?

If so when could it happen and would Sky or someone take them over?

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/football/spl/2009/06/03/exclusive-spl-sides-set-for-crisis-talks-over-setanta-tv-cash-fears-86908-21410564/

I doubt Sky would take them over, more than likely Sky would bid less for the contracts from the leagues knowing they had no competition

macman

[QUOTE=rich_shot2003;22130757]Is there really a risk that they could go bust?

If so when could it happen and would Sky or someone take them over?[/QUOTE]

I think it's more a case of 'when' then 'if', unless someone with very deep pockets is willing to refinance a company whose business model appears to be unsustainable.

Pokerlad

macman wrote: »

I think it's more a case of 'when' then 'if', unless someone with very deep pockets is willing to refinance a company whose business model appears to be unsustainable.

Setanta has deep pockets. People forget that the UK is a small market for it, it has major interests in the USA, Australia and Ireland where they are very profitable. Yes the business model is flawed in the UK because subscriber numbers are nowhere near the break even point but they are well backed. I see in the long term them concentrating on overseas football and minority specialist sports such as UFC.

macman

Pokerlad wrote: »

Setanta has deep pockets. People forget that the UK is a small market for it, it has major interests in the USA, Australia and Ireland where they are very profitable. Yes the business model is flawed in the UK because subscriber numbers are nowhere near the break even point but they are well backed. I see in the long term them concentrating on overseas football and minority specialist sports such as UFC.

So why are they not paying their instalments to the SPL, and currently discounting subscriptions by 70%?
What real prospect do they have of ever reaching break-even in the UK?

Pokerlad

They currently have 1.2m subs and need 2m to break even. As for why the late payment I don't know but I do know the parent company is cash rich and will only let the UK venture fail if they want it to.

They have always discounted subs, I have only paid full price for two months out of 17. The heavy discount is to keep subscriber numbers up for advertisers etc.

macman

But they no longer have the programming content to bring in new subs. Replacing football with minority sports is surely not going to bring in the necessary business, and cutting the subs is ultimately self defeating, as no-one is going to be willing to go back to paying full price.

tvwatcher

macman wrote: »

So why are they not paying their instalments to the SPL, and currently discounting subscriptions by 70%?
What real prospect do they have of ever reaching break-even in the UK?

Most subscription companies will discount subs during the "Off Season" similar to why does a holiday cost less to spain in feb than July...because the demand is not there, so nothing new there, and they did the same last year, and the year before.

as for not paying the SPL, its my understanding from certain papers that they have made agreements to pay and some of the clubs wanted the money quicker, hence they went to the press to try and force the issue.

I guess its suck it and see time