This really is the break ESPN has been waiting for.....
Sports Broadcaster Setanta on the Brink By Ainsley Thomson
LONDON -- The board of privately held Setanta Sports Holdings Ltd. will hold an emergency meeting Monday amid press reports the sports broadcaster could file for insolvency as early as this week, people familiar with the matter said.
Financial-services firm Deloitte is set to step in as administrator unless the company can come up with a rescue plan, the people said.
The meeting comes after Setanta failed to make a £3 million ($4.8 million) payment to the Scottish Premier League for its soccer broadcast rights, due Monday.
Adding to the pressure on Setanta is a looming payment to England's Premier League of around £30 million due early next week.
Setanta declined to comment.
Setanta has been in discussions with its main investors -- Goldman Sachs, venture capital fund Balderton Capital, private-equity firm Doughty Hanson and hedge fund Montrica -- for the past six months to try to secure funding. A board meeting last Saturday reportedly have failed to secure a rescue deal.
The Dublin-based company paid £392 million for two of the six packages of Premiership, now the Premier League, broadcast rights.
However, in February the company only managed to secure one package for 2010 to 2013, while rival British Sky Broadcasting PLC got the others, casting doubt over Setanta's future.
News Corp, owner of Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, holds a roughly 39% stake in BSkyB.
