UK Branch of Setanta Placed Into Adminstration

• Guardian, Tuesday, June 23, 2009 3 PM

Irish pay-TV company Setanta has today been placed into administration after rescue talks designed to secure new funding collapsed. Accountancy firm Deloitte has confirmed it has been appointed to administrate the UK part of the business, which employs about 200 staff. They will now be made redundant.

Setanta's UK arm "will shortly cease broadcasting to its customers in Great Britain" according to Deloitte's Neville Khan, one of the partners appointed to carry out the process. The pay-TV operator has suspended the collection of subscription payments from customers in the UK with immediate effect as the company attempts to restructure. "We can confirm that no further monthly subscriptions or direct debits will be accepted from customers of the UK business," Khan said.

The company will continue trading and Setanta Ireland and Setanta International are not covered by the appointment, Deloitte added. After an agreement with U.S. billionaire Leonard Blavatnik, who was in talks to buy a majority stake in the business, collapsed, Setanta's founders were thought to be focusing on trying to rescue its Irish and North American operations, believed to make a modest profit. Those talks will continue, according to Khan. "The International and Ireland businesses continue to trade on air whilst we are in discussions with parties to take on those businesses as going concerns," he said.

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