MMA Forum

Update 2...

Setanta Sports are working to put together a rescue package before a £30million payment is due to the Premier League on Monday.

As noted earlier this week, the future of the pay TV broadcaster appears to be secured until at least the end of this week, meaning UFC fans in the UK should still be able to watch UFC 99 live this Saturday night.

iFight365.com understands that the UFC have already started looking for an alternative outlet for UFC 100 to air on July 11 should Setanta enter administration in the next few weeks.

Failure to raise funds due for Premier League televised rights would also certainly result in Setanta shutting down its channels in the UK.

Existing investors Doughty Hanson, Balderton Capital and the private equity arm of Goldman Sachs have offered Setanta a maximum of £50m, with an additional £50m still needing to be raised.

Setanta are believed to be hopeful that either ESPN will rescue them or that they will be able to wholesale its content to Sky in return for a £50m advance. The latter option seems unlikely though, with Sky’s chief executive Jeremy Darroch this week saying that Sky were not in business “to fund other companies”.

Press reports on Thursday said Setanta are considering the sale of its profitable operations in Ireland and the United States as they attempt to avoid going into administration.

Customers in the UK wanting to become a new subscriber to Setanta Sports are still unable to do so, while as reported on Wednesday, BT Vision has stopped offering Setanta to its customers.

Cable company Virgin Media are said to be considering removing the Setanta package from their digital TV service although there is nothing to indicate this will happen immediately.

Phil Lowe

Source: iFight365.com

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Strike First - Strike Hard - Show No Mercy

Also worth checking out this thread...

Tweet! Tweet! Dana White confident UFC 99 will be on television

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Strike First - Strike Hard - Show No Mercy

Haven't got Setanta at the moment so will be sweet if on Bravo as I can recorrd it on SKY + too.

I hope so too! I want UFC 100 on non sentana tv so i can see bisping v handerson

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Yeah I'm looking forward to that one too. Missed out on a lot of UFC over the poast year for one reason or another so will be good to be off Setanta.

Looks like a US Company might invest the 50m to sentana

And I got my facts wrong before, theres 1.2 million subscribers, and they need 1.9 million!

Im hoping they colapse

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