Irish telco Eir is in advanced talks to purchase the Irish operations of Setanta Sports.
The Irish Times reported that a deal could be completed early in 2016, assuming regulatory approval was granted. After it withdrew from the UK market, Setanta continued to broadcast in the Irish Republic, where it runs two channels. Significantly its subscribers also receive the BT Sports channels as part of the package – a deal which is scheduled to expire next year.
The principal shareholder in Setanta is Michael O’Rourke, one of the founders of the business, which began life delivering Irish sports to pubs in the UK before entering the direct-to-home business.
Eir, previously known as Eircom, would benefit from a key programming slate that would help it compete against Liberty’s Virgin Media, which recently acquired general entertainment channel TV3.
Setanta’s business in Great Britain went into administration in June 2009, since when its international operations have been gradually sold off. Sentanta US closed in 2010, its programming rights being transferred to Fox Sports. Fox also bought its African channel business and earlier this year Setanta Sports Asia Limited was sold to Discovery.
O’Rourke would retain the ownership of the UK’s Premier Sports and its Euraisa business that broadcasts across Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
