Setanta has lost the away game but it’s still in with a shout at home

THE collapse of Setanta Sports in Britain probably means little to most people in this country, other than it is an Irish company that has taken a big blow.

A TV station broadcasting sports fixtures, mainly soccer, in Britain, although also to Ireland, goes out of business – so what, even if its original promoters are Irish? Somebody else will show the matches instead and, anyway, many people couldn’t afford to buy the coverage and so it doesn’t matter to them who shows the fixtures, if at all.

Many people can’t even afford Sky – despite its dominance of the televised coverage of English football and Heineken Cup and Lions rugby – so the demise of Setanta is not going to be a concern. If you had money to spare to buy additional TV sports channels, it is almost certain you subscribed to Sky. Setanta was an add-on only if you could afford it.