With Setanta’s Demise, Could ESPN Get European Soccer Back Next Season?
ESPN, Media Gossip/Musings, Soccer, Television June 8th. 2009, 3:30pm
ESPN lost the U.S. broadcast rights for the Champions League it had held for over a decade. However, with Irish broadcaster Setanta Sports facing financial ruin, ESPN may have a route back into European soccer.
Setanta Sports, operating in the U.K., North America, Ireland and Australia, relies on paid subscribers. It fell 700,000 short of the 1.9 million subscribers needed to break even over the past six months. The network, without miraculous investment, will default on its contracts to televise soccer, rugby and other sports.
Setanta’s demise could have stern ramifications for many if not dealt with swiftly. The network has multiyear contracts for U.K. television rights from the English Football association ($279 million), the English Premier League ($207 million) and the Scottish Premier League ($200 million), as well as deals with Rugby leagues. Clubs have already accounted for that money in their operating budgets. Failure to pay could force the clubs into financial trouble as well.
ESPN has had interest in television rights for the Premier League to build its brand in Britain. Under its agreement, Setanta televises 46 matches per season. The simplest solution would be the WWL taking control of Setanta by offering to take on their debt. ESPN could also wait out the company’s dissolution, offering an even lower bid for the Premier League when the rights are resold. (U.K. law prevents Sky from owning all six television packages.) ESPN could sidle it’s way into the U.K. market for a relatively scant investment.
This also could see soccer back on ESPN in the United States before the 2010 World Cup. In the U.S. Market, Setanta Sports leases rights to up to four Premier League matches per week and the Europa League from Fox Soccer Channel. Until last season, ESPN had sub-licensed Setanta rights to Champions League matches, with speculation the relationship would continue with FSC. Dealing with ESPN, FSC might be more reticent, as most would not hand their rival a sword to stab them in the jugular.
Setanta also holds American rights for French Ligue 1, the Scottish Premier League, lower division English league soccer, the Asian Cup, World Cup 2010 qualifying, international friendlies and an assortment of minor cup competitions.
33 Responses to “With Setanta’s Demise, Could ESPN Get European Soccer Back Next Season?”
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June 8th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Setanta owes the Premier League $47 million by next week.
June 8th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
thank god we got that federererererererererer -tiger post out of the way now we can talk about sports people care…oh wait…nevermind
June 8th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Where could Setanta have gone wrong? Maybe it’s because Fox Soccer Channel comes with Direct TV service and Setanta charges an additional $49.99 to show games a day later. Dynamite business model you have there Setanta.
June 8th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
I don’t care who gets the games, but for god’s sake put them in HD. Watching FSC is painful the picture is so bad.
June 8th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
@mrejr8234, technically this is less about soccer and more about the business of broadcasting sports. That was still funny though, even if it was predictable coming from you.
June 8th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Thanks for the Free Book of Mormon, TBL!
June 8th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
I would say a number of factors. They overextended themselves. The economy is bad, so people are more reticent to pay extra money for sports on TV. They also lost one of the Premier League packages, so it wasn’t worth it for many people in Britain to subscribe.
June 8th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
This is one instance where I hope ESPN does get the rights. I’m not paying an extra $10/month for Fox Soccer, the NHL Network, the Tennis Channel and some crappy regional Fox Sports channels.
June 8th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
FSC has stated that the entire Champions League will be HD by 2010. ESPN, to my knowledge, only broadcasted the semis and final in HD.
June 8th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
From what I heard, they are planning to go HD in the 4th quarter of this year.
They also have the option of throwing the games on FX to (A) put them in HD if they choose and (B) get three times the distribution.
June 8th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
If ESPN can bring Setanta into the “family of networks”, I’d be more than happy to pay extra for that channel, granted the programming is the same.
/it’s not available on my cable
June 8th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
Yeah, the HD isn’t a huge deal to me, though it would be awesome. My concern is more with the production value, which, though it’s nice to have a soccer channel, has been low budget and absolute crap so far.
They’ve been spending too much on Transformers and Scooter to throw any money into the soccer network.
June 8th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
I’d LOVE to pay for those crappy regional Fox Sports channels if the MLB games on them weren’t all blacked out… WHICH I WAS SPECIFICALLY TOLD WOULD NOT BE THE CASE BY AT&T UVERSE.
(shakes fist, still happier than I was with Charter Communications)
June 8th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
@duffy: I’m not being a dick, this is an honest question: Considering the economy, will the ad money be enough to justify ESPN even carrying soccer, or will they not care just because its another sport that they will be able to control.
June 8th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
It was only the final actually. And I will believe it when I see it in terms of getting all games in HD on FSC. Why they don’t have an HD channel in mid-2009 is beyond me.
June 8th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
Damn, this would seem like a solid idea. Throw some of the bigger matchups on FX to at least promote the channel.
June 8th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
/fixed
June 8th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
good stuff
June 8th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
1. In Britain, yes. ESPN has two networks there. Landing even a partial portion of the Premier League rights would be huge.
2. In the U.S., it’s nowhere near the ratings for the NFL obviously. But, it’s also on at off-peak hours. So running the live sports at 2:30 in the afternoon on Tues and Wed on ESPN2 was much better than running a highlight show from Mike & Mike in the Morning. It also has growth potential.
June 8th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
The ratings say otherwise.
/reality’d
June 8th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Used to get Setanta for the rugby but when I switched from Direct TV to Fios they did not have it available. I was thinking of paying the 11.00 a month now that they are on Verizon but was waiting for the new season in September. Guess that plan is on hold.
June 8th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
I would pay hundreds of dollars myslef for reruns of EPL over Metro and Fatso in the morning live
June 8th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
Not if Mrejr didn’t watch it, then nobody did.
/tree falling in the woods’d
June 8th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
i get it for the rugby, to me it is worth the money. I have been told that the rugby is not on HD because they do not broadcast the rugby in HD over there. Hopefully they can figure it out because the other way is to watch over the internet.
June 8th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
It’d be nice if ESPN opened up an ESPN soccer channel in HD. It would also be nice if they opened up an ESPN classic that harkened back to when they had no sports, where you could watch Aussie Rules, Rugby (pick a league, really), lumberjacking and etc. That might be fun.
Charter would pick that crap up long before they pick up NFLN, too.
June 8th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
just picked up UVerse and they offer Setanta for $15 per month. I don’t think so! Even if you wanted to pay, Setanta is not offered to most cable subscribers in the US
June 8th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
FSC has said that they will be broadcasting games on more than just FSC. They said this after they wont the right against ESPN. They also claimed that they’d be going HD in the 4th Q but I’ve heard elsewhere it won’t be until earl 2010. Frankly in this day and age its absurd that the games are not in HD. I don’t know who to blame, but it should be fixed
Oh and duffy, spot on about the production values. They redid the set backdrop but thats about it. They need better announcers, better production and a cute girl thats actually competent. The one they have now is dreadful, and may be illiterate.
June 8th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
@dirt
there was whispers odf turning classic into ESPN euro, where they would show all the soccer, rugby, cricket etc. All the stuf that used to be on Fox Sports before it went all soccer. I think this might happen if ESPN gets the rights as classics as it stands now is a joke.
June 8th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
@jerseyyo
This isnt really about advertising, perse. ESPN is chomping at the bit to get into Europe, and this would be the best way to do it. I think, and I could be very wrong, that the $$ they make in the europe and the UK from this deal would make up for the advertising here in the US. Make no mistake though, nothing on saturday or sunday mornings (or mid day mid week) will be able to charge higher advertising rates than EPL/Champions League.
June 8th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
It isn’t FSC’s fault. They rely on the feeds coming out of England, and the HD technology there is nowhere near as widespread as it is here. It costs a shitton to broadcast HD across the Atlantic, so it is taking longer to get the infrastructure set up.
June 9th, 2009 at 2:05 am
Only +$5 by me including Gol TV and others as well, but damn the quality of their coverage like most cable TV content has just gone way down. I’m cutting off all but the most basic cable now and have the major NFL and college football free in the cable included in my new place soon, but I am moving for good later this year anyway. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to paying overpriced cable rates even on their “specials” again.
June 9th, 2009 at 2:10 am
UVerse is the best all-around service I have seen and comes with NO CONTRACT unlike that Fios racket. Good to see other rugby players/fans here too along with the regular crowd for football/soccer on Duffy’s posts, except of course for Mrejr/Brock who hates soccer but just won’t go away.
June 9th, 2009 at 4:10 am
So after reading through some of the stuff on the BBC, it seems that this is the last year of the contract, and starting in 2010 they only have 23 games. So that’s only a game a week for two thirds of the season, that’s pretty shitty. Plus FSC has first crack at the choice games. So if ESPN gets it, after one year, we’re looking at 23 weeks of Wigan and West Ham.
Oh yeah, that’s gonna do a fuckton of good.