Premierships Making Setanta’s TV Package Available Friday
Filed under: EPL, English Football Association, Setanta
With all the talk focusing on who will be the person or company to step up and save Setanta, the Premier League have gone public with their warning that the 2009 / 10 package of 46 Live Matches will be made available for bid if the Friday payment deadline is not met.
Via DailyMail
The Premier League said in a statement: ‘The Premier League has been working over the past weeks, with Setanta, to ascertain whether they are in a position to continue as the broadcaster of 46 UK live matches for the 2009/10 season.
‘Although the Premier League would like to provide Setanta with as much time as possible to re-arrange its finances, the start of the 2009/10 Season is only two months away, with the release of fixtures imminent.
‘Accordingly, the Premier League has notified Setanta that if necessary the existing licence agreement between us will be terminated, coming into effect if Setanta does not meet certain contractual requirements of the Premier League on or before Friday 19 June 2009.
‘In view of the shortage of time before the start of next season, the Premier League has determined, with the agreement of Setanta, that it shall today issue its Invitation to Tender (ITT) in respect of the 46 UK Live Matches for the 2009/10 Season only.
‘The bid deadline has been set for Monday 22 June but we will give all prospective bidders notice late on Friday 19 June if Setanta have met their conditions, thereby negating the need for bids to be submitted.’
Under an agreement with the European Commission, the Premier League cannot sell all their live matches to one single broadcaster.
That means that Sky would only be able to bid for 23 of Setanta’s 46 Games next season as it already holds the rights to show the other 92 games next season.
American broadcaster ESPN would be expected to bid for at least one if not both of Setanta’s two packages of games for next season.
Setanta also hold the rights for one package of 23 games for the 2010/13 seasons and if they default on their payments those also look likely to be up for grabs with ESPN again the favourite to win them.Image via TheWorldsBestEver
ESPN please step up and buy the package or Setanta, this will probably be a cheaper way into EPL than the bid before.
[…] With Setanta failing to meet a deadline to pay £10m, the EPL has terminated its TV deal with Setanta. This means 46 games have to be shown on other networks. 23 are being picked up by BSkyB, but under European competition rules, the other 23 must go to another broadcaster. Who’s gonna get these games? […]