Disney-owned channel buys Premier League matches

Disney-owned ESPN has won the bidding battle to secure the two remaining Premier League rights packages formerly held by troubled sports broadcaster Setanta.

The Premier League said it had handed the two remaining packages to the US broadcaster, containing 46 matches for the 2009/10 season and 23 matches per season from 2010/11 to 2012/13.

News of the Premier League’s sale conclusion came just hours after the Scottish Premier League announced it was ditching Setanta and looking for another television partner.

ESPN said it has struck a deal with Sky for its coverage to be sold to residential and commercial customers.

It also said it wants to make its Barclays Premier League coverage widely available across multiple pay-TV platforms.

Setanta lost its deal to broadcast the 46 English Premier League games when it failed to meet a deadline for a £10m (€11.7m) payment to the league.

The Premier League has since been holding an auction for the rights packages.

Richard Scudamore, Premier League chief executive, said: “The timescale of our process was tight, to say the least, and it is to the great credit of ESPN that they committed themselves to adding Barclays Premier League football to their already impressive portfolio of sports rights.”

He added: “The speed at which we have been able to conclude this deal means that the preparations for next season will be able to continue without interruption and fans and clubs will have certainty over the broadcasting of Barclays Premier League matches for the next four seasons.”

Setanta also failed to hold to its Scottish Premier League (SPL) deal after it missed a £3m (€3.5m) payment and failed to meet extended deadlines for the money - prompting the SPL to look elsewhere for next season.

“We are now actively engaging in the process of selling our domestic broadcasting rights for next season and beyond,” SPL chairman Lex Gold said.

Mr Gold said: “We set three deadlines and we wanted to work with Setanta who have been a great partner of ours.

“They have spent £60m (€70.5m) in supporting Scottish football and our board were determined to give them every possible chance to work through the problems that they had.

“That process has been lengthy and intensive but the deadline today was the final deadline.”

Setanta still holds the rights to other major sporting fixtures including the FA Cup, some England matches, US PGA golf and, from next year, Guinness Premiership rugby.

The firm’s woes could cause a headache for other sporting associations as a fall into administration might trigger a fire sale of its other broadcasting deals.

It is also feared the loss of the Premier League games will cause Setanta subscribers to migrate to other providers.

The Irish broadcaster has about 1.2 million subscribers, but this is below the 1.9 million it needs to break even and it is thought to be running at a loss of nearly £100m (€117m) a year.

It was left unable to pay the Premier League following the collapse of a potential rescue deal with US tycoon Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries.

The deal, which was thought to be worth £20m (€23.5m), would have seen Access Industries buy a 51% stake in the broadcaster, but it failed to go ahead after “a number of issues” were not resolved in time.

Deloitte has been lined up to act as administrator if the firm fails.

Setanta, which employs about 430 people as well as 700 call centre contract workers, temporarily suspended new subscriptions earlier this month, prompting fears over the future of the business.