Big Brother firm in talks over £40m Setanta rescue
ENDEMOL, the television company behind Big Brother, is reported to be in talks about joining a rescue deal for sports broadcaster Setanta.
Endemol and other investors were said to be looking at injecting about 40 million in exchange for a controlling stake in the broadcaster.
The consortium is led by Access Industries, the company controlled by US-based tycoon Len Blavatnik. Access confirmed on Friday that it had submitted a plan to buy a majority stake in Setanta as part of a wider refinancing.
Mr Blavatnik's business already has a small stake in Setanta as well as an interest in TopUp TV, which sells Setanta to digital terrestrial viewers.
Setanta has TV rights including the Scottish Premier League, the FA Cup, World Cup qualifiers, Premier League and the Blue Square Premier, but is struggling to pay for them as customer numbers have dwindled.
The broadcaster has around 1.2 million subscribers, but that is short of the reported 1.9 million it needs to break even.
The group suspended all new subscriptions on Wednesday.
Email to a friend
Print this page- Family mourn death of Glasgow ‘fight’ schoolboy
- Rangers takeover: Duff & Phelps threaten legal action against BBC
- Today’s youth not fit to be employed, says car firm Arnold Clark
- Rangers administration: Fans fear Duff & Phelps claims could scare off Green
- Rangers takeover: triple penalty punishment enough, says Johnston
- Alistair Darling leads ‘No to independence’ fight over tea and biscuits
- Scottish independence: SNP flip-flops over Nato
- Scottish Independence: SNP ‘won’t be Yes campaign’s only voice’
- Today’s youth not fit to be employed, says car firm Arnold Clark
- Scottish independence: ‘People here are best qualified to run Scotland’
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Edinburgh
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North east
