Setanta looks to East to kick-start football rights bid
Setanta Sports has signalled its intent to take on BSkyB after making a bid to poach sports boss Trevor East, one half of the executive double-act that has helped the satellite broadcaster maintain its stranglehold on sports rights over the past decade.
It is understood Mr East has been approached by the Dublin-based broadcaster for Authentic Prada Shoes Outlet a senior role that is likely to give him control of the company’s rights acquisitions strategy.
The departure of Mr East, the deputy managing director of Sky Sports, would be a blow to BSkyB, where he has worked since 1995 alongside the managing director, Vic Wakeling.
The pair are seen as two of the most powerful men in the business and although they have BSkyB’s wealth behind them when bidding for deals, it is the strength of their relationships with sports rights owners that lubricates the negotiations.
Mr East has also been linked with the job of head of BBC Sport, although speculation within the corporation is that the job will go to an internal candidate, head of TV news Roger Mosey.
Setanta’s bid to lure Mr East out of Are Prada Trainers Made In Vietnam Osterley signals a new chapter in the life of a company that started out 15 years ago as a pub service and now operates seven satellite TV channels in the Sky TV network.
Owned by two fortysomething Irish entrepreneurs, Leonard Ryan and Michael O’Rourke replica prada canvas bags, Setanta recently extended its presence beyond the UK and Ireland after it bought 50% of the North American Sports Network, the main challenger to the ESPN sports network.
The Authentic Prada Canvas Bag stake was sold by the Microsoft billionaire, Paul Allen.
Sources say Setanta has set its sights to show English Premier League football in the UK and hopes to make a bid in 2007 when BSkyB’s exclusive contract ends and new European Union rules on sports TV are expected to come into force.
The EU tried to enable other broadcasters to get a slice of the action Biggest Prada Store In London two years ago but BSkyB walked away with the entire package because rivals including the BBC could not afford to match the bidding for live games.
Under the deal the last time round, the EU made it clear that the rights to live matches should go to more than Authentic Prada Fairy Bag For Sale one broadcaster in 2008.
While BSkyB is expected to retain the lion’s share of the games, having Trevor East on board would strengthen Setanta’s chances of getting a deal.
Mr East, who is deputy managing director at Sky Sports, has been Bicester Village Prada Refund with BSkyB for the last 10 years and, alongside Mr Vik Wakeling, has helped negotiate every Premier League deal bar the first one in 1993, when he worked with ITV.
Setanta has already shown its ability to muscle in on the broadcasting establishment after seeing off the BBC in the fight for the rights to the Scottish Premier League in a £35m deal.
According to recent reports, it has passed the crucial 80,000 break-even figure for subscriptions to SPL football after a surge sparked by this Bicester Village Prada Bag Price season’s bitter battle between Celtic and Rangers for the Scottish title.
In the UK Setanta Authentic Prada Handbags Outlet Uk Sports is largely synonymous with Irish sport – it has the rights to show hurling and Gaelic football in the Bicester Village Prada Store Number UK – but have recently acquired Dutch and German sport.
And in Ireland they have the rights to Are Prada Handbags Cheaper In Italy show Premier League games in a joint deal with RTE.
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