LONDON (ShareCast) - Setanta is in deep trouble after BSkyB (LSE: BSY.L - news) said it won't hand the sports broadcaster
a £50m lifeline, and as emergency talks to secure a last-ditch rescue broke up without agreement last night.
Satellite giant BSkyB had been offered access to Setanta's 46 English Premier League games next season in return for the money.
But BSkyB chief executive Jeremy Darroch is not interested. "At the end of the day, we are not a bank, we are a broadcaster," he said.
Meanwhile, the Telegraph reported that Tuesday night's meeting ended without a definitive decision on the future of the company.
Setanta's two founders, Leonard Ryan and Michael O'Rourke, are desperately trying to get fresh cash from new investors.
Chairman Sir Robin Miller is thought to have won £50m of funding, but rumours suggest private equity owners, Balderton Capital and Doughty Hanson, are unwilling to come up with the extra £50m required to save the group.
It is believed that Setanta could enter administration within days if it fails to find about £30m owed to the English Premier League.
The Irish firm, which also owes £3m of television rights money to the Scottish Premier League, is currently losing around £100m a year.
Setanta, which also owns rights to show cricket, PGA golf and rugby matches, boasts about 1.2m subscribers, but that's way shy of the 1.9m it needs to break even.
Thousands of subscribers are expected to defect to its much larger rival BSkyB, which is showing 115 games per season versus just 23 for Setanta.
Rights for England and FA Cup matches, secured for £425m in a shared deal with ITV (LSE: ITV.L - news) , will probably be acquired by a rival if Setanta fails.
Deloitte will run the business if that happens.
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