Setanta Sport on the brink of collapse.

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

Going to be interesting to see the knock on effect this has. Magners League, Guinness Premiership, Blue Sqaure Premier, USA tour golf, Eircom League and boxing all affected. Bound to hit the local soccer club, as well as the conference clubs in England badly. I'd assume the rugby provinces are quite dependent on this money as well.

[Archie Mitchell]

With the Premier League canceling their contract with Setanta, will this have a big impact on the other sports? Obviously they dont have to pay the money for the rights so this money is freed up and can afford to cover the other sports. Obviously subscriptions will decrease as a result of the loss of the premier league games.

Anyone else thinking of canceling their subscription? I am as only have it for the premier league and the GAA and didnt watch that often anyway.

[stevecw]

With the Premier League canceling their contract with Setanta, will this have a big impact on the other sports? Obviously they dont have to pay the money for the rights so this money is freed up and can afford to cover the other sports. Obviously subscriptions will decrease as a result of the loss of the premier league games.

Anyone else thinking of canceling their subscription? I am as only have it for the premier league and the GAA and didnt watch that often anyway.

Yeah i'm certainly going to cancel mine too. Premier league was the only reason i got it in the 1st place.
They don't have much else that interests me, as even their gaa coverage isn't great. A few league games on a Saturday night, but that seems to be it.

But from what i've heard they are making cancelling very complicated indeed!

[Bogball XV]

With the Premier League canceling their contract with Setanta, will this have a big impact on the other sports? Obviously they dont have to pay the money for the rights so this money is freed up and can afford to cover the other sports. Obviously subscriptions will decrease as a result of the loss of the premier league games.

Anyone else thinking of canceling their subscription? I am as only have it for the premier league and the GAA and didnt watch that often anyway.

there's probably a core business that can be saved and sold on to someone, I'd take a look at the rugby regularly and the us golf (although the players championship was their main tournament).  Their venture into the premiership was what killed them, they paid too much for shitty time slots and relatively unattractive games.  Surprisingly their venture into scottish football was successful and I think a sizable number of their subscribers were there.

[clarshack]

With the Premier League canceling their contract with Setanta, will this have a big impact on the other sports? Obviously they dont have to pay the money for the rights so this money is freed up and can afford to cover the other sports. Obviously subscriptions will decrease as a result of the loss of the premier league games.

Anyone else thinking of canceling their subscription? I am as only have it for the premier league and the GAA and didnt watch that often anyway.

Yeah i'm certainly going to cancel mine too. Premier league was the only reason i got it in the 1st place.
They don't have much else that interests me, as even their gaa coverage isn't great. A few league games on a Saturday night, but that seems to be it.

But from what i've heard they are making cancelling very complicated indeed!

if you go and cancel your direct debit first thing on monday morning without giving them any notice can they do anything about it?

[Minder]

With the Premier League canceling their contract with Setanta, will this have a big impact on the other sports? Obviously they dont have to pay the money for the rights so this money is freed up and can afford to cover the other sports. Obviously subscriptions will decrease as a result of the loss of the premier league games.

Anyone else thinking of canceling their subscription? I am as only have it for the premier league and the GAA and didnt watch that often anyway.

Yeah i'm certainly going to cancel mine too. Premier league was the only reason i got it in the 1st place.
They don't have much else that interests me, as even their gaa coverage isn't great. A few league games on a Saturday night, but that seems to be it.

But from what i've heard they are making cancelling very complicated indeed!

if you go and cancel your direct debit first thing on monday morning without giving them any notice can they do anything about it?

If you are paying by DD just cancel that baby. You dont have to inform Setanta.

[GalwayBayBoy]

ESPN has bought the rights to show 46 games in next season's English Premier League that were to have been shown by struggling broadcaster Setanta.

Disney-owned ESPN has won the two packages of games shown on Saturday teatimes and Monday evenings. It says both will be sold through BSkyB.

It has also won the 23 games per season Setanta was due to show from 2010-13.

The league took the broadcasting rights back from Setanta on Friday after it missed a payment deadline.

The Premier League had set a deadline of Monday for other broadcasters to submit offers for the games.

ESPN said in a statement it had "reached an agreement for its coverage to be retailed by Sky to residential and commercial customers".

'British commitment'

It is the first time that ESPN will broadcast live Premier League football in the UK.

The broadcaster already has two channels in the UK, one covering American sports and another showing archived action.

Russell Wolff, managing director of ESPN International, said: "This move demonstrates our commitment to British sports fans and our ongoing commitment to delivering football to fans around the world across a variety of media."

"ESPN have a formidable worldwide reputation and experience in sports and I am sure we will enjoy a long and fruitful relationship with them," said Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore.

"I would like to thank ESPN, as well as all the other broadcasters who submitted bids, for their professionalism and effort in engaging in our sales process at such short notice."

[Archie Mitchell]

ESPN channel is available only if you subscirbe to Setanta. Will this still be the case or will they have their own subscription channel for the premier league games now?

If they were just to offer a package for the premier league games I would probably subscribe, similar to the way Sky had the PPV games on Premiership Plus.

[The Real Laoislad]

What about all the Golf tournaments Setanta have?
If they go as well as the soccer I may as well just cancel it.

[slow corner back]

Scottish league pulled the pin on Setanta today, the bill was £3m for a season of scottish football compared to £130m for the tail end of the english season mad!!!

[clarshack]

whats the chances of saturday night GAA games being back on TG4 next season?

[guy crouchback]

the Saturday night package would be ideal for TV3. with a lot of county grounds spending money on flood lights they are going to want to use them. I'd say you are going to see the league become a mainly Saturday nigh affair with the next 3 years and no harm either.

[cavan4ever]

Scottish league pulled the pin on Setanta today, the bill was £3m for a season of scottish football compared to £130m for the tail end of the english season mad!!!

Was that 3m not just the balance of what had to be paid?

[slow corner back]

May have been cavan, it sounds a ridiculously small figure.

[The Real Laoislad]

May have been cavan, it sounds a ridiculously small figure.

To high of a figure if you ask me for the shite that is the SPL..