Setanta seeks backing for Premiership launch

Sports channel Setanta today secured a major funding boost ahead of its Premiership ratings battle with BSkyB next season.

Setanta said it had signed agreements worth €315m with a number of private equity firms including Goldman Sachs and Doughty Hanson.

The Irish broadcaster broke BSkyB’s monopoly on live Premiership matches in May when it paid £392m (€579m) for rights to 46 top flight games each season for the next three years. Last week BT announced it would be streaming Setanta’s live Premiership coverage on its new next generation television service, BT Vision.

Setanta said it will use the money to pay for the rights, as well as market the service and bring in presenters and producers to front the coverage.

The company also intends to spend some of the cash on a new 24-hour golf channel, which launches in January and will feature live US PGA tournaments.

Leonard Ryan, co-founder and joint chief executive, said: “Not only have we secured top-flight sports content, but we are now fully funded to realise our ambitions to be the premier sports channel in the UK across all platforms.”

Setanta currently runs ten channels on satellite and cable featuring live horse racing and Scottish Premier League (SPL) fixtures as well as American sports.

The broadcaster, which was founded in 1992, provides sports coverage to 50 million digital homes around the world and to 1,500 commercial venues.

It has signed a £54.5m (€80m) deal to cover 60 live SPL games a season for the next four years and has already signed up a number of big names for their shows, including former Scotland striker Ally McCoist.

However, Setanta was unable to say who it had hired – or planned to get on board – when it starts Premiership coverage next year.

As part of today’s deal, smaller agreements have also been signed with Davy Stockbrokers and Adams Street Partners. Setanta declined to reveal the exact share split between the four investors.

But it said Doughty Hanson, which is headed by Nottingham Forest chairman Nigel Doughty, now joins Benchmark Capital as the largest institutional shareholders – together the groups own just under 50% of the broadcaster.

It is not the first time Doughty has invested in a television company after acquiring TV3, Ireland’s only privately owned free to air commercial channel, in August.

Ynon Kreiz, general partner at Benchmark, said: “We are proud to see how Setanta has developed in the year and welcome our new investment partners on board.

“With significant financial resources, the company will continue to grow and build its pay-TV sports channel in the UK and Ireland.”