Setanta Sports, the broadcaster of English Premier League football, is seeking to drum up interest in a possible sale.
The Irish-owned group is understood to be looking for a valuation in excess of £1billion, even though the company is not yet profitable.
Goldman Sachs, the investment bank that is one of Setanta’s key shareholders, has been asked by fellow investors to informally sound out potential bidders for the international pay-TV sports broadcaster.
Among those that may express an interest are BT, ITV, Virgin Media and Disney, the owner of the sports network ESPN. ESPN executives have made clear that they are interested in breaking into the lucrative British football rights industry.
In Britain and Ireland, Setanta has been offering steep discounts and short-term contracts as it seeks to bolster its premium sports audience.
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The group, which expects to earn revenues of €500million (£373million) this year, has around 1.2million premium subscribers in the UK plus another two million customers on the Virgin Media platform.
The company, which in 2006 agreed to pay £392 million over three years to share live Premiership football coverage with BSkyB, hopes to break even by the end of the year. However, the group could face competition on digital terrestrial television as Sky is pushing for the right to launch a pay-TV service to Freeview customers.
Setanta was founded by two expatriate Irishmen, Leonard Ryan and Michael O’Rourke, in 1990. It operates ten channels in Britain, Ireland, North America and Australia. Other shareholders include Goldman, Balderton Capital, Doughty Hanson and Montrica. The decision to pursue a sale rather than a flotation is thought to have been taken because of the poor state of the markets.
Setanta, Goldman Sachs and Disney were not available for comment.