The fate of Setanta could be decided today as time runs out for the stricken broadcaster.
An emergency board meeting was held last night by directors desperate to stave off administration, with crisis talks continuing today. Leonard Ryan and Michael O’Rourke, the company’s two founders, are trying to organise a £100 million rescue after the collapse of a plan led by Doughty Hanson, a key shareholder.
Setanta stopped taking orders for new subscribers yesterday. Would-be subscribers on the broadcaster’s website were flashed a message saying: “Oops! Something has gone wrong?”
Sources close to the negotiations this morning described the situation as “extremely fluid”, with new proposals constantly emerging.
Setanta has been looking for additional capital to plug the funding gap created by its failure to retain its English Premier League rights packages beyond 2010. In April, Setanta held talks with private equity firms, including Carlyle, in a bid to raise up to £100 million, but in spite of trying for more than two months, it has fallen well short of its target.
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An effort to secure a £50 million lifeline from BSkyB, the broadcaster whose majority shareholder is News International — parent company of The Times — failed this month. Jeremy Darroch, Sky’s chief executive, said yesterday it was a “broadcaster, not a bank”.
Setanta had asked Sky for £50 million in return for access to the 46 Premier League games the Irish broadcaster secured for next season.
Mr Darroch told a Sports Industry Group event in London yesterday: “Our job is not to fund other companies.
“We have been talking to Setanta, and trying to work with them and help them. At the end of the day we are not a bank, we are a broadcaster, not a supplier of working capital to a business and rights holder.
“This is a huge amount of money.”
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A Sky source added: “We’ve heard rumours that there will be a crunch meeting today to decide the fate of Setanta. We are watching with interest.”
ESPN, the American sports broadcaster controlled by Disney, may take over the rights to show Premier League matches if Setanta goes into administration, although efforts to involve ESPN are thought to have been unsuccessful.
Setanta was forced to deny that it would go off the air at the end of broadcasting last night, but there remained speculation that staff could be told this morning that the broadcaster had fallen into the hands of administrators.
The company has been teetering on the brink of administration since the weekend, with Deloitte, one of the company’s advisers, on standby to take over as administrators.
Having failed to pay £3 million to the Scottish Premier League, the struggling broadcaster now faces a £30 million payment to the FA Premier League next week.