TV giant about to fall down quickly.

TV giant, Setanta, is about to fall flat on its face as the company faces administration. Setanta owes the Premier League roughly £30 million and will plummet from business unless financial backers can stump up the cash to save the station.

Setanta has come in for a lot of criticism for its handling of certain TV rights and the fact that it deprives a mainstream audience from being able to watch a lot of big games, which are only viewable to a small number that have subscribed to the station.

The broadcaster also owes money to the Scottish Premier League, which is roughly ten times less than it owes to the English version. Therefore it seems highly unlikely that unless something is drastically done Setanta will drop like a fly from providing us with top-flight entertainment.

Setanta also has rights to show live cricket matches and golf tournaments but the revenue generated from 1.2 million subscribers is clearly not enough to stamp out the growing debts that it is building up on a daily basis.

No doubt the news will be a welcome relief to Setanta’s competitors. In the recent battle for rights to show live sports next season Sky virtually swept the board. This will please a lot of people that never really saw the point in a small broadcaster showing high quality matches that only a small number actually paid to watch.

It will also be good news for many in the current economic climate as a lot of people may already have Sky and for this reason they will not have to renew or sign up for a Setanta subscription in order to prevent them from missing out on a lot of entertainment in the months to come.

The news just acts as proof that the lucrative world of global sport is expensive and requires a lot of funds, time and attention in order to provide a high quality service. This is something Sky have consistently done since the Premier League was formed in 1993 and is something they now look like they will be unrivalled in doing.

TV rights to show Premier League football are getting more expensive as each season passes. Due to this Setanta now looks like it will go the same way as ITV Digital did in 2003 after it was reported that they were unable to pay the full amount of £105 million for the rights they had acquired to show Premier League football and highlights.

So for now the broadcaster has a lot of work to do but the whole scenario just goes to show that you should never try and punch your weight against a competitor that has everything. Sky have the reputation and the reliability of service to be able to consistently deliver and what many people thought would happen is finally unfolding.

Deloitte will step in and run the company should administration finally kick in however, fortunately for Setanta they won’t be facing any ten-point penalties that could dent their future for a long time to come.