Eir in talks to acquire Setanta Sports

ongarite

Reports in papers this morning say Eir is in advanced talks to acquire Setanta Sports.
Seems to be a recent trend of broadband providers owning a TV station..

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/eir-in-talks-for-takeover-of-setanta-sports-1.2437205

Ireland’s biggest telecoms group Eir is in talks to acquire Setanta Sports, the Dublin-based pay television broadcaster.
The Irish Times has learned that talks are at an advanced stage with a deal likely to be completed in 2016, subject to regulatory approval and competition clearance.
It is understood that Mickey O’Rourke, Setanta’s majority shareholder and co-founder, would remain with the business for a period after a deal is completed.
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Setanta operates two sports channels in Ireland and has hi-tech production facilities in Dublin’s city centre.
Last week it signed a “multi-year” extension to its current deal with British telco BT, which was due to expire in 2016.
This allows its customers to receive BT’s sports channels as part of their Setanta pack.
It is understood that BT is aware of the discussions taking place with Eir and is comfortable with a deal being agreed.

icdg

Interesting there that it would mean a seperation of Setanta and Premier Sports, which were effectively operating as one company. Hopefully it would come with a long term deal for Premier Sports to continue to be part of the Setanta pack in Ireland.

channelsurfer2

a rebrand to the Eir sports channel?

Gonzo

and if such a thing does happen would be nice if Eir gives all Eir customers free acesss to the channel on Sky just like BT gives BT Sports to all BT customers.

mikeym

Eir Sports would sound silly.

Better off not rebranding Setanta.

Joo0

Shame BEin didnt buy the Setanta Ireland when they picked up the Australian version. The only thing keeping Setanta going is the BTSport link up. Its a shame for Setanta that they couldn't keep the 3 pm games. For me and many football fans Setanta's offering isnt very attractive next season. BtSport will no longer have the same amount of 1st picks next season so the quality will drop. The 5:30 Saturday slot isnt the best either. 20 million seems a very low price youd wonder why BT would buy it up themselves.

Joo0

mikeym wrote: »

Eir Sports would sound silly.

Better off not rebranding Setanta.

eirSport is a real possibility. They registered eirSport.ie earlier this year

Elmo

Joo0 wrote: »

eirSport is a real possibility. They registered eirSport.ie earlier this year

Not surprised, Sky buy Irish only rights and eircom get into bed with BT (said it a while back)

Widescreen

Posted in wrong thread previously-apologies.

I think Eircom takeover is bad news for the customer. I don't like their phone package offers where they give a half decent offer for six months and then hike the price.(most people probably don't even know the price will rise after six months because the print telling you this is so small)

If they run the sports channel the same way, they won't last long.

They should stick to their core business

It's ironical that Setanta have finally got something going and then sell out.

I like the fact that they will deal on the pricing - will Eircom do the same?!?

Elmo

Widescreen wrote: »

It's ironical that Setanta have finally got something going and then sell out.

TBH I always thought that Setanta were playing the waiting game. Most of its international channels have been sold.

It was either Eir or BT that would consider the takeover, IMO Eir are just following what BT are doing in Britain.

Delta2113

Eir are the last company that i would like to see getting Setanta. If they do I expect them to totally mess Virgin Media around and Virgin Media won't be able to retaliate with Pulling TV3 from Eir as an example.

macker22

I wouldn't like to see eir get setanta either I think they'll ruin it like they've done with everything else

channelsurfer2

would Eir be able to use "Eir/Setanta" Sports as a free give away to their customers? I know that they have a wholesale and retail division but not quite sure if that means they would have the leeway to give away something that retails for €21.99 normally without Sky/Virgin complaining to Comreg.

machiavellianme

channelsurfer2 wrote: »

would Eir be able to use "Eir/Setanta" Sports as a free give away to their customers? I know that they have a wholesale and retail division but not quite sure if that means they would have the leeway to give away something that retails for €21.99 normally without Sky/Virgin complaining to Comreg.

I'd doubt too many pay full price per month. With the regular 9.99 offers or 129 for the year, most seem to grab a bargain or drop their sub.

icdg

channelsurfer2 wrote: »

would Eir be able to use "Eir/Setanta" Sports as a free give away to their customers? I know that they have a wholesale and retail division but not quite sure if that means they would have the leeway to give away something that retails for €21.99 normally without Sky/Virgin complaining to Comreg.

Setanta Ireland is already part of Eir's basic pack, so really we would be talking then BT Sport and Premier Sports programmes. I suppose it would depend on whether Eir could afford to take the hit on whatever payments BT would be expecting in respect of those customers, and what the ongoing relationship, if any, will exist between Premier and Setanta after the two separate. A deal to keep Premier Sports and its content as part of the Setanta pack isn't crucial - rugby league and ice hockey are very much niche sports here - but a one channel Setanta could face problems during the GAA league season keeping up the level of coverage it had previously been able to offer. (Given that all the European football is being shown by BT now, I don't think it's as important for Setanta to run two matches on weeknights any more, though they have done so this season.)

guile4582

Widescreen wrote: »

Posted in wrong thread previously-apologies.



It's ironical that Setanta have finally got something going and then sell out.

are you for real? the owners more or less lost everything when the UK business went belly up.

Perfect time to get out, the price of sports rights has got ridiclious

Widescreen

I'm only looking at it from a joe soap customer point of view-them making loads of money doesn't impact on my life- I just think the channel package now is perfect and I can only see the new owners screwing it up!

afatbollix

Don't UPC or virgin own a stake in Setanta? They paid for the launch of HD so it would only be on UPC for a while. Maybe Eir are buying that stake?

icdg

It's hard to establish, because Setanta is privately held, however from what I can gather Michael O'Rouke now owns either all or nearly all of the company.

The Cush

Confirmed on RTE business news this morning.

eir agrees deal to purchase Setanta Sports Ireland
Eir acquires Setanta Sports including BT Sport's Irish rights

Flippyfloppy

The Cush wrote: »

Confirmed on RTE business news this morning.

eir agrees deal to purchase Setanta Sports Ireland
Eir acquires Setanta Sports including BT Sport's Irish rights

Noooooooooooooooooo Anyone but Eir, they're absolutely awful feckers

macker22

Tats the end of setanta so eir will run it to the ground

channelsurfer2

subscribe to Eir and get Eir sports free.(but really not free as we are way more expensive than Sky or Vodafone/Virgin).......

ftakeith

channelsurfer2 wrote: »

subscribe to Eir and get Eir sports free.(but really not free as we are way more expensive than Sky or Vodafone/Virgin).......

eir's 'broadband only' is 45euros per month, would you get the setanta pack for free in the future as this might make sky sports cheaper for sky fibre broaband consumers

An Ciarraioch

ftakeith wrote: »

eir's 'broadband only' is 45euros per month, would you get the setanta pack for free in the future as this might make sky sports cheaper for sky fibre broaband consumers

Would presume this is the business reasoning, given they apparently only have 40,000 subscribers, so free BT would be a key selling point.

notahappycamper

Will this be the end of Setanta on satellite/Sky then i.e. will it only be available through Eir I wonder?

channelsurfer2

notahappycamper wrote: »

Will this be the end of Setanta on satellite/Sky then i.e. will it only be available through Eir I wonder?

free on Eir but not on Sky. Same as BT do in the UK provided people sign up for BT broadband perhaps.

greendom

Wonder what impact this will have on the BT Sport channel side of things.

swoofer

for bt sport read this as already posted.

http://www.independent.ie/business/eir-acquires-setanta-sports-including-bt-sports-irish-rights-34264787.html

ftakeith

channelsurfer2 wrote: »

free on Eir but not on Sky. Same as BT do in the UK provided people sign up for BT broadband perhaps.

But in the UK, if you have sky tv on satellite and also have BT broadband you get BT sport's channels for free, could the same thing happen here

mikeym

What will happen to Setanta Sports 1 and Setanta HD since that Premier Sport is not being sold to Eir?