paul dempsey....those who doubted

[rhino222]

its a fair bit of time since the affable paul dempsey, the figurehead of boxing on sky, jumped ship and went to the seemingly unpopular and definately lesser known setanta sports. its now proving to be a good move from dempsey, despite initial embryonic troubles setanta have gone from strength to strength and are definately heading in the right direction, i just hope they can get a bit more cricket on.

all in all a calculated good move for dempsey.

[stujones]

Not according to viewing figures its not! Apparently they are not hitting their targets.

[Wales]

700,000 for the andorra game on saturday night (prime time)

[Goz]

Dempsey should release a song 'ya'll must've forgot' or something like it.

[Gray-Fox]

Dempsey should release a song 'ya'll must've forgot' or something like it.

[adamheight]

surely setanta couldnt have offered him more salary?....may be he got share options or something?

[Gray-Fox]

surely setanta couldnt have offered him more salary?....may be he got share options or something?

Maybe the freedom not to speak Sky's exclusive brand of bullshit?

[DavidPayne]

The Setanta boxing hour last night was fab.

I'd like another voice alongside Buncey to mix it up a bit but it really works as an enjoyable hour.

[TheGoods]

surely setanta couldnt have offered him more salary?....may be he got share options or something?

You're joking right? Setanta are proper flush. Bid something like £325million for England matches. next highest bid was just under £200million. Imagine that phone call

Sultana: "Our final offer is £325million."

The FA: "Great. We never expected more than £200million."

Sultana: "Err, did we say £325million? We obviously meant £225million...."

[adamheight]

surely setanta couldnt have offered him more salary?....may be he got share options or something?

You're joking right? Setanta are proper flush. Bid something like £325million for England matches. next highest bid was just under £200million. Imagine that phone call

Sultana: "Our final offer is £325million."

The FA: "Great. We never expected more than £200million."

Sultana: "Err, did we say £325million? We obviously meant £225million...."

lol

[Poncey]

surely setanta couldnt have offered him more salary?....may be he got share options or something?

You're joking right? Setanta are proper flush. Bid something like £325million for England matches. next highest bid was just under £200million. Imagine that phone call

Sultana: "Our final offer is £325million."

The FA: "Great. We never expected more than £200million."

Sultana: "Err, did we say £325million? We obviously meant £225million...."

lol

And they couldn't secure a highlights package with BBC or ITV.

[chinny]

You're joking right? Setanta are proper flush.

Setanta are a private company who have never broke even never mind made a profit. The two Irish founders own about 10% of the company with private equity 25% and other financial investors the rest. ie all these rights are being bought with debt.

Rumours are that they are trying to sell the business for about £1bn, probably to ESPN who are apparently keen to get a foothold in the UK prem rights.

Setanta have been buying all these rights and trying to get the subsciber numbers up in the hope that someone buys them. Its only a matter of time.

Who knows what will happen to the boxing coverage when that happens.

[DavidPayne]

I read they need 1.5million subscribers by next June? Presently stagnant on 1.1million. I think that was the Guardian or similar I read that?

The ESPN link is also a true I think.

[chris s]

You're joking right? Setanta are proper flush.

Setanta are a private company who have never broke even never mind made a profit. The two Irish founders own about 10% of the company with private equity 25% and other financial investors the rest. ie all these rights are being bought with debt.

Rumours are that they are trying to sell the business for about £1bn, probably to ESPN who are apparently keen to get a foothold in the UK prem rights.

Setanta have been buying all these rights and trying to get the subsciber numbers up in the hope that someone buys them. Its only a matter of time.

Who knows what will happen to the boxing coverage when that happens.

It'll be interesting to see what happens if they don't sell in 12 months. They have a great portfolio but if there are no buyers they will be in the cart.

I saw somewhere that Virgin and ESPN had been in talks but they went nowhere.

[Goz]

You're joking right? Setanta are proper flush.

Setanta are a private company who have never broke even never mind made a profit. The two Irish founders own about 10% of the company with private equity 25% and other financial investors the rest. ie all these rights are being bought with debt.

Rumours are that they are trying to sell the business for about £1bn, probably to ESPN who are apparently keen to get a foothold in the UK prem rights.

Setanta have been buying all these rights and trying to get the subsciber numbers up in the hope that someone buys them. Its only a matter of time.

Who knows what will happen to the boxing coverage when that happens.

Can't Sky just buy them and make them Sky Sports 4 (or even better just fit the content into Sky Sport 1 to 3 because it's just been spread out anyway) and tuck it away in my subscription?

[steve689]

Setanta have paid out around £700 million in sport across the board accorind to Five Live and are struggling to recoup.

Another OnDigital looming?

[JamesH]

And they couldn't secure a highlights package with BBC or ITV.

apparently the top terrestial offer was 500k.

[whiskey]

I took out a setanta subscription purely because Paul Dempsey moved there.

True.