Two key investors in Irish sports TV and online broadcaster Setanta Sports, who own 25pc of the company, have written down the value of their stakes to zero. The investors were concerned about Setanta’s business model after it lost a bidding war for Premier League match rights.
Doughty Hanson, which owns 20pc of Setanta, and Goldman Sachs, which owns 5pc of the company, wrote off the value of their investments in Setanta after it lost half its live football TV rights to BskyB.
Setanta, which currently has two of the six live English Premier League rights packages, will have just one for the 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons.
It is understood that BSkyB upped its bid to £1.62bn sterling to capture five out of the six right packages.
Setanta is now understood to be conducting a review of its assets, which could see it lose its other live TV rights, such as boxing and rugby.
By John Kennedy
