Financial markets are starting 2016 in turmoil as a rout in China rekindled concern slowing growth there will spread, while tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran added to geopolitical unease.

Telecommunications company eir has bought Setanta Sports Channel Ireland Ltd for an undisclosed sum.

Setanta Sports is in the final stages of selling its Australian broadcasting division to an international conglomerate owned by an affiliate of Middle East media giant, Al Jazeera.

Customers at a DIY store desperately tried to resuscitate a man who was killed when a 500kg bundle of fencing fell on him, an inquest heard yesterday.

When Pat Gallagher was pulled out of a job in an amusement park to become the San Francisco Giants marketing director by the club’s owner, Bob Lurie, he was faced with an almost impossible task — selling tickets to one of the worst baseball franchises in the US in one of the oldest and coldest stadiums.

The 10th anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks has been marked at a poignant memorial in Dublin.

DIY franchise B&Q Ireland Limited has today been ordered to pay a fine of a €250,000 for a health and safety breach which resulted in a customer’s death.

RTE’s new six-part reality series, in association with Horse Racing Ireland, comes to air on RTE One next Wednesday, July 20, at 8.30pm.

CHARLIE KIELT isn’t going to spill the beans on everything.

WINNING a provincial semi-final is no place to declare a famine is over but a millstone was lifted from the neck of Derry football yesterday.

HORSE RACING IRELAND is considering allowing punters use online betting and betting exchanges at racecourses to counter the rapidly falling attendance numbers at Irish race meetings.

DIY franchise B&Q Ireland Limited will be sentenced later for failing to ensure a safe workplace in one of its garden centres which resulted in a man’s death.

TV3 HAVE inked an agreement with former Setanta chief executive Niall Cogley’s new event production enterprise to pilot their host broadcast coverage of next year’s Europa League final at Dublin’s new Aviva Stadium.

Leitrim 1-12 Monaghan 2-11

SETANTA SPORTS yesterday won the Irish rights to broadcast live coverage of 33 Barclays Premier League games for each of the next three seasons.

Unfortunately, sufficient reality has not yet prevailed on the property sector. It seems many landlords, in refusing to negotiate rents downward, would rather have their properties vacant. This denial and refusal by property-owners is one of the greatest causes of closure.

THE prospective new owners of the Irish operations of sports broadcaster Setanta are understood to be in a race against time to put in place the necessary funding to buy the business, before the Irish transmission rights for English Premier League football are put out to tender in the coming weeks.

LIBERTY Global, the US company which owns the Chorus/NTL cable and digital television companies, through its UPC subsidiary, has indicated an interest in buying the Irish division of Setanta Sports.

THE holding company which runs the Premier League in England has put the English transmission rights for Premiership football matches still controlled by Setanta out to tender.

Sports broadcaster Setanta began taking subscriptions from new customers again today as rescue hopes grew for the struggling business.

ENDEMOL, the Dutch television production company best known for creating the Big Brother reality show franchise, has emerged as one of the likely additional investors necessary to keep ailing sports broadcaster Setanta from going out of business.

US tycoon Len Blavatnik has confirmed he has tabled a proposed rescue deal for cash-strapped Irish broadcaster Setanta.

TWO potential avenues towards a rescue of ailing sports broadcaster, Setanta seemed to have closed yesterday – with one of its main rumoured suitors stating it wasn’t interested.

THE board of Setanta Sports is expected to meet again next week to consider fresh rescue packages for the ailing broadcaster, which surfaced on Tuesday night.

CASH-strapped sports broadcaster Setanta could be forced into administration this week after failing to make payments due on TV rights, according to reports.

Cash-strapped sports broadcaster Setanta could be forced into administration this week after failing to make payments due on TV rights, reports said today.

SETANTA Sports founder Michael O’Rourke believes the company will survive its current difficulties but said there are no guarantees.

THEY’RE one nil down and time’s nearly up. Cash-strapped broadcaster Setanta needs to find just over €100m to meet its short-term obligations to the Premiership and the English FA.

NO promotion to chase, no relegation to fear, no provincial championship for the guts of another two months. Neither side had much to gain or lose in south Armagh yesterday and until a dramatic last 10 minutes, it showed.

THE sale of broadcaster Setanta Sports is unlikely to happen for at least 18 months.

Premier League football broadcaster Setanta Sports was at the centre of takeover speculation today after reports of a £1bn (€1.3bn)-plus offer for the business.

‘COMPETITION’ was the buzzword bouncing off the polished wood floors and shiny chrome fittings of central London’s Century Club yesterday.

Veteran broadcaster Des Lynam is returning to his Irish roots as the anchor of a new soccer show on the home-grown Setanta Sports network.

A Padraig Joyce-inspired Galway side completed a remarkable comeback at Pearse Stadium as they won at the third attempt in Division 1B.

Ian Guider

IRISH sports channel Setanta has added German, French and Dutch football to its schedule which is now running seven days a week.

THE two founders of the broadcaster Setanta Sports have netted millions from the sale of a stake in the company to an American investment firm.

TWO GAA documentaries have been short-listed for the Best Sports Programme Award at the Irish Film and Television Awards (IFTA).

IRISH broadcasting and media group Setanta Sport plans to set up two new television stations for Glasgow Rangers and Celtic football clubs.

IRISH HORSE-RACING chiefs will pay TV funnyman Hector Ó hEochagáin €500,000 in a bid to woo a younger audience.

Argideen Rangers 3-11, Blackrock 2-11

Waterford IT 1-14, Cork IT 2-9

IT is three months since the coverage of Irish racing on the now defunct Racing Channel, much loved by many of us, was halted.