The Scottish Premier League is in urgent discussions with ailing sports broadcaster Setanta as plans were announced to auction off next season's English Premier League matches.
The future of the Irish broadcaster is in serious doubt after the English league terminated its contract and a white knight from America backed out from buying a potential majority stake in the business.
Setanta said late Friday it remains on air.
Bidding for the top-flight English matches will take place this weekend. Sky Sports and American broadcaster ESPN are expected to make offers for the 46 encounters. Bidding closes on Monday.
The English league terminated its contract with the Irish broadcaster after it failed to deliver on a £10million payment.
The news puts the future of the broadcaster in doubt and heightens concerns within the SPL over its deal with Setanta.
Lex Gold, SPL executive chairman, said late Friday: "We are still locked in discussions with Setanta.
"Understandably, these discussions are complex and must remain confidential at this stage. We expect these to conclude early next week."
Setanta's football contracts include the Football Association for FA Cup and England games and the Blue Square Conference. The broadcaster also shows rugby, boxing and golf, among other events.
The company said it will "consider its options" over the weekend.
Setanta had suspended new subscriptions last week and also missed a £3million payment due to the SPL, but started taking new subscriptions again this week.
However, efforts to stay afloat through the backing of Russian-American tycoon Len Blavatnik ended in failure. While reviewing Setanta's financial records, it's understood Mr Blavatnik learned the broadcaster had a massive £50million tax bill still due - essentially killing any deal.
Setanta still has a contract with the Premier League to show 23 live games a season from 2010 to 2013, but after its failure to come up with the money for next season this arrangement also looks bleak.
In a statement, the league said: "The Premier League, in agreement with Setanta, stipulated that certain contractual requirements had to be met on or before Friday 19 June 2009 to allow the preparations for the 2009-2010 season to continue unaffected.
"It is with considerable regret that we announce that Setanta has been unable to meet their obligations."
If Setanta do go bust, then under a pre-arranged deal, ITV would take over the rights to up to eight England away friendlies for a pre-agreed sum.
The FA Cup would provide more problems but it is understood the FA would approach ITV in the first instance to see if they want to take over any live games. If ITV were not interested, they would approach other broadcasters - both terrestrial and subscription services.
