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HDSports
13 Aug 2007, 07:55 PM
From the Post (Ireland)


Setanta’s US operation makes $3 million loss
12 August 2007 By Gavin Daly

A division of broadcasting firm Setanta that transmits sports events in the US went into the red in 2005,as turnover fell by $3 million.

Setanta Sport (Irl) had turnover of $6.99 million in the 13month period to the end of 2005,down from$10.04million in the previous financial period, which was to the end of November 2004.

As a result of the fall in turnover, the company made a pretax loss of more than $1.9 million, compared with a pre-tax profit of more than $194,000 in 2005.

It had accumulated losses of almost $823,000 at the end of 2005, according to accounts recently filed at the Companies Registration Office in Dublin.

Despite that, the directors of the firm, Leonard Ryan and Michael O’Rourke, said the firm’s financial position was ‘‘in line with expectations and the major operating financial targets were achieved’’.

The company employed just eight people in ‘‘administration in the USA’’ during the year and its employee costs were almost $880,000.

The company’s business is broadcasting televised sports events and, according to the accounts, ‘‘the focus of the business will be to continue to grow its commercial customer base, primarily pubs’’.

The accounts were prepared on a going concern basis, which was partly dependent on ‘‘the parent company continuing its financial support through adequate loan facilities’’.

At the end of 2005, Setanta Sport (Irl) owed almost $8.1 million to group companies and was owed more than $6.3 million by group companies, according to the accounts.

The main company in the group is Setanta Sport Holdings, but its most recent accounts cover the 2004 financial year. Setanta Sport (Irl) is only a small part of the Setanta Sports business, which has grown into an international sports broadcaster.

The firm paid stg£392 million for the rights to show 46 live games in the English Premier League, breaking BSkyB’s monopoly in the area.

The first games were broadcast this weekend, and O’Rourke said he was convinced that the investment would pay off for Setanta.

‘‘We’ve had an absolutely fantastic July and August so far.

‘‘People have come quicker and in greater quantities than we’d thought,” he told the Financial Times this weekend.

bostonsoccermdl
16 Aug 2007, 03:41 PM
From the Post (Ireland)


Setanta’s US operation makes $3 million loss
12 August 2007 By Gavin Daly

A division of broadcasting firm Setanta that transmits sports events in the US went into the red in 2005,as turnover fell by $3 million.

Setanta Sport (Irl) had turnover of $6.99 million in the 13month period to the end of 2005,down from$10.04million in the previous financial period, which was to the end of November 2004.

As a result of the fall in turnover, the company made a pretax loss of more than $1.9 million, compared with a pre-tax profit of more than $194,000 in 2005.

It had accumulated losses of almost $823,000 at the end of 2005, according to accounts recently filed at the Companies Registration Office in Dublin.

Despite that, the directors of the firm, Leonard Ryan and Michael O’Rourke, said the firm’s financial position was ‘‘in line with expectations and the major operating financial targets were achieved’’.

The company employed just eight people in ‘‘administration in the USA’’ during the year and its employee costs were almost $880,000.

The company’s business is broadcasting televised sports events and, according to the accounts, ‘‘the focus of the business will be to continue to grow its commercial customer base, primarily pubs’’.

The accounts were prepared on a going concern basis, which was partly dependent on ‘‘the parent company continuing its financial support through adequate loan facilities’’.

At the end of 2005, Setanta Sport (Irl) owed almost $8.1 million to group companies and was owed more than $6.3 million by group companies, according to the accounts.

The main company in the group is Setanta Sport Holdings, but its most recent accounts cover the 2004 financial year. Setanta Sport (Irl) is only a small part of the Setanta Sports business, which has grown into an international sports broadcaster.

The firm paid stg£392 million for the rights to show 46 live games in the English Premier League, breaking BSkyB’s monopoly in the area.

The first games were broadcast this weekend, and O’Rourke said he was convinced that the investment would pay off for Setanta.

‘‘We’ve had an absolutely fantastic July and August so far.

‘‘People have come quicker and in greater quantities than we’d thought,” he told the Financial Times this weekend.

Setanta isnt too realistic with their pricing.

I have attempted to go see weekday european games at a bar in NYC, and have a Setanta rep try to charge me $15 to watch a game.

(for clarification, the bar doesnt set pricing or policy, basically, Setanta works the door and while they are showing the game, its their rules..)

I politely stated, the match was already 15 minutes underway, and I would pay $5. I didnt even touch upon the fact that the bar was empty, so they werent making any $$ to begin with.

They refused, I left, and the bar continued to remain empty, and Setanta continued to turn away potential business.

DutchFootballRulez
16 Aug 2007, 03:51 PM
Their residential offerings are hurting the pub business in the US especially. I can live no where near a pub and get Setanta for SOME of their leagues, but unless I live in a town with a pub, why would I pay for a single match when I can watch it at home and other matches for the same fee?

bostonsoccermdl
16 Aug 2007, 04:28 PM
Their residential offerings are hurting the pub business in the US especially. I can live no where near a pub and get Setanta for SOME of their leagues, but unless I live in a town with a pub, why would I pay for a single match when I can watch it at home and other matches for the same fee?

Well certain matches are only available at a pub (or through commercial venues). Its not one channel offering everything...

residential and bar stations show different fixtures.

GPK
16 Aug 2007, 05:05 PM
Well certain matches are only available at a pub (or through commercial venues). Its not one channel offering everything...

residential and bar stations show different fixtures.

Very correct. The Commercial games are typically Celtic, Rangers and Rugby. Almost all EPL matches are on Setanta USA available with satelite

Father Ted
16 Aug 2007, 05:09 PM
The figures quotes are for 2004 and 2005 before Setanta was even on Directv (feb 2006 iirc)

DutchFootballRulez
16 Aug 2007, 05:22 PM
Oh, I know. Like the Benfica qualifier vs Kobenhavn, but thats now like PPV matches.


You pay for just a few or only one match. Like I was suggesting everyone can't reach a pub

DutchFootballRulez
16 Aug 2007, 05:28 PM
The figures quotes are for 2004 and 2005 before Setanta was even on Directv (feb 2006 iirc)

So they've been losing money even before going to DirecTV

rangers00
17 Aug 2007, 01:53 AM
Well certain matches are only available at a pub (or through commercial venues). Its not one channel offering everything...


The Moscow Spartar X Celtic game was only offered by Setanta Premium (pubs), but you can watch it in Russian on Sopcast (P2P streaming) for free. When it's free, you usually can tolerate a little bit jitter and pixelization, as well as a language that you dont' understand.

Anyway, Setanta's US operation does not really make $3M loss. It's getting $3M less revenue as compared to the previous year. There is a big difference. And I don't know why it states the US operations, because these figures are about Setanta Sport (Irl).

"Setanta Sport (Irl) had turnover of $6.99 million in the 13month period to the end of 2005,down from$10.04million in the previous financial period, which was to the end of November 2004."

danielmak
18 Aug 2007, 10:54 PM
I think Rangers00 highlights important points. I'm not a business guy but it's interesting how different reports play with the figures in different ways and for different reasons. For example, as Rangers notes in the quote he points out, we could read this as less profit rather than an actual loss. And they've got to be making something from DirecTV (and now Dish).

Additionally, as anyone who has followed the interesting accounting of sports team owners can attest, there are probably other things going on here. For example, team owners can claim that a player's overall value has depreciated to help lower the tax bracket. Setanta could probably make the same move by claiming that the overall value of their company has depreciated because the value of their equipment has depreciated and count that as a loss. All of this would be for tax purposes (and perhaps other reasons that I'm not hip to).

Of course, at the end of the day, I want Setanta to make money because they will use some of that money to continue offering high quality futbol. Take care.