Spl Pulls Plug On Setanta Rights Deal

The Scottish Premier League has followed the lead of its English counterpart and pulled the plug on its TV rights deal with Setanta after the broadcaster failed to meet a deadline to pay £3m as part of its contract.

Setanta last year agreed to pay £125m over four seasons to extend its deal with the SPL beyond 2010 however the under-pressure firm has since missed an extended deadline.

At the beginning of the month, the SPL paid £3m to 12 member clubs from its own funds to tide them over in lieu of money owed by Setanta.

Commented SPL chairman Lex Gold: ‘We are now actively engaging in the process of selling our domestic broadcasting rights for next season and beyond.’

‘Setanta has been unable to meet our extended deadline for the outstanding £3m payment to the SPL and, in terms of the notice previously issued, our British broadcasting rights for season 2009/10 and beyond revert to us.

‘We set three deadlines and we wanted to work with Setanta who have been a great partner of ours. They have spent £60m in supporting Scottish football and our board were determined to give them every possible chance to work through the problems that they had.

‘That process has been lengthy and intensive but the deadline today was the final deadline so our rights reverted to us as of 3pm today. So we are now in the market for selling those broadcasting rights for next season and beyond.’

Gold said he did not believe that any new deal would mean having to accept a lower fee.

‘We have a product that is valuable in the marketplace and we will be seeking to see that value covered,’ he added.

‘The clubs have been kept up to date on a regular basis so they are able to make prudent decisions.’

A potential rescue deal, led by a US investor who had proposed buying 51% of Setanta, fell through last week. The future of the Irish broadcasting firm is now in grave doubt with Deloitte on standby to oversee Setanta’s speculated move into administration.