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Takeover rumours circle Setanta

February 12, 2008

Pay-TV sports broadcaster Setanta Sports was at the centre of takeover speculation after reports of a £1 billion-plus (E1.4bn) offer for the business. The Irish company received the unsolicited approach from a unnamed European media company and the interest could spark a flood of rival offers, reported the Sunday Telegraph. BT, Virgin Media and US giant Disney – owner of the ESPN sports television network – are all mooted as potential bidders for the business.

Setanta was founded in 1992 but scored a major breakthrough in May 2006 when it broke BSkyB’s monopoly on live Premiership matches. It paid £392 million for the rights to 46 top flight games each season under a three-year deal which began in August 2007.

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