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Offer made for stake in Setanta Offer made for stake in Setanta
(10 minutes later)
US investor Len Blavatnik is offering £20m for a 51% stake in the troubled Irish pay-tv channel Setanta, the BBC has learned. US investor Len Blavatnik is offering £20m in return for a 51% stake in the troubled Irish pay-tv channel Setanta, the BBC has learned.
Mr Blavatnik is also involved with Top-up TV, the pay-tv channel on Freeview.Mr Blavatnik is also involved with Top-up TV, the pay-tv channel on Freeview.
BBC business editor Robert Peston said Mr Blavatnik's intervention could buy Setanta some extra time. BBC business editor Robert Peston said Mr Blavatnik's intervention could buy Setanta some extra time to stave off "the great day of reckoning".
Setanta has been hit by subscribers cutting back on their spending in the recession and also from only winning one of the Premier League packages. Setanta has been hit by not having enough subscribers and only winning one of the English Premier League packages.
Setanta won two of the packages of live games in the previous auction. The firm declined to comment.
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Setanta won two of the packages of live games in the previous auction, which covers games until the end of next season.
On Wednesday, Setanta confirmed it had stopped taking on new customers as it battles to secure its future.
Mounting debts
Mr Blavatnik, who works with the former boss of BSkyB David Chance, has not been immune from the fall-out of the credit crisis.
A huge petrochemicals maker he backed, LyondellBasell, has collapsed, meaning big losses for its creditors, which include Royal Bank of Scotland.
Setanta's talks with fellow broadcaster BSkyB failed while Walt Disney-owned sports network ESPN denied speculation earlier on Thursday it would buy the beleaguered broadcaster.
Setanta, which shows cricket, golf and rugby union as well as football, has about 1.2 million subscribers.
But this is only about 60% of the number it needs, according to analysts, and the company is losing up to £100m a year.
Setanta needs to pay £30m that is due to the English Premier League and has already failed to pay the Scottish Premier League £3m it owes in television rights money.
Under the current UK broadcast deal for the English Premier League, which lasts for one more season, BSkyB holds four packages of rights to show live matches - a total of 92 games - while Setanta has the other two packages, which cover 46 games.