Setanta: No pay-per-view problem

Setanta today denied that their £35m (€52.6m) television deal with Scottish football was about to hit the rocks.

It has been suggested that the Irish pay-per-view company is struggling to meet their 89,000 break-even target which was estimated by Premierleague chairman Lex Gold.

But they moved quickly this morning to ease fears that the deal had hit crisis point, plunging the Bank of Scotland SPL’s cash-strapped clubs into fresh financial disarray.

A spokesperson for Setanta said: “We are really happy with the way things are going. To say subscription levels to date are hitting the rocks is absolutely outrageous. We are definitely happy with the subscription levels to date and we are on course.

“To say anything else is outrageous and it’s just pure speculation. There is nothing else to write about just now.”

Setanta are confident that the deal will be the success to save Scottish football.

They will launch an advertising campaign amid fears there had only been 20,000 subscribers so far. But the spokesperson added: “I don’t know why this is.

“There have been a few sceptical people but Setanta have put a good package in place and some great presenters as well and there is a really strong investment behind it so to say it’s about to hit the rocks is completely untrue.”