Setanta in Administration

Following the news that Setanta lost its Premier League rights, it has now lost FA Cup and England games as it has gone into administration

Unsurprising to say the least, but the real issue is: who will pick up the spoils - will it be ESPN?

...All you can be sure of is that it won't be the BBC

ESPN Wins Premier Package

ESPN has won the rights to take over the broadcasting of 46 Saturday & Monday evening Premier League games for the 2009/10 season, and subsequently 23 Premier League games per season for 2010/11 to 2012/13.

ESPN have indicated that they will make the games available via BskyB on a pay-TV platform, though pricing is not yet been made available.

Setanta lost the rights when they failed to make the required payments to the Premier League to carry on showing the games. They have today been dealt a second blow when the SPL pulled it's contract, again for non-payment, and it is now expected that the SPL will return to Sky Sports.

Setanta are thought to be on the brink, and have stopped accepting new customers. They will now be losing customers with the loss of the Premier League rights, myself included.

Setanta retain their rights to the FA Cup and England Internationals which is split viewership with ITV, though the future of these broadcasts, along with many other non-football sports packages may soon be auctioned if the broadcaster does fold.

What are your thoughts on ESPN's gain and will you remain a Setanta customer?

Sky 5 Setanta 1

Sky Sports is today following on from their recent announcement of having secured 4 of the 6 Premier League TV packages for UK broadcasting, by announcing that that they have now won a 5th Package. Setanta, who currently have 2 packages, will only have the Saturday Evening Package (Package D) for the 2010/11 to 2012/13 seasons.

That means that Sky will have 115 of the 138 televised games.

The total value realised by the auction is £1.782bn (5% up on last deal) and Richard Scudamore commented that this puts in place stability for the Premier League clubs and allows them make their plans.

Setanta will be disappointed in losing 23 Premier League games, but they do have the England Internationals and the FA cup coverage.

I had also blogged previously that the BBC recently announced they had retained the rights to host Match of the Day until end of the 2013 season.