Media News - Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Broadcaster Setanta in administration

The almost three million British households which subscribe to broadcaster Setanta Sports will have their service switched off by the end of the day after the company called in administrators on Tuesday. The board of privately-held Setanta Sports appointed Deloitte as administrators after failing to secure additional financing, Setanta said. Setanta International and Setanta Ireland, which have around 200,000 subscribers, are not covered by the appointments and will continue trading, Deloitte said. The news comes after the English Premier League terminated its live match contract with Setanta on Friday, saying the company was unable to meet its payments. The League then awarded the lucrative rights to Disney ESPN on Monday. Setanta will wind down its British operations and its British output will go off air shortly, Deloitte said, leading to the loss of about 200 jobs, out of a total of 420. Third-party call centres contracted by Setanta will be hit by the news, with around 950 jobs likely to be affected, Deloitte said in a conference call. A buyer is being sought for the Irish and international operations, and a deal could be announced within days, Deloitte said. (Reuters)

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