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17:08 GMT, Tuesday, 7 July 2009 18:08 UK

SPL takes time over TV contract

Setanta Sports may have broadcast its last live football

The Scottish Premier League will take up to two weeks before deciding whether to accept a new broadcasting deal proposed by Sky Sports and ESPN.

Representatives of the clubs met at Hampden Park on Tuesday.

And an SPL spokesman said: "The meeting was a chance for us to update them on where we are with the discussions.

"We ran them through a number of different options and got some feedback, but there was no formal decision-making."

The SPL is seeking a new broadcasting partner for live games on television after Setanta Sports went into administration.

And the meeting at Hampden coincided with the announcement by US broadcaster ESPN that it plans to launch a new UK sports channel on 3 August.

The channel will show 46 live Barclays Premier League English football games, which were to have been shown by Setanta until it missed a payment deadline.

ESPN's channel will be shown on Sky, which will also be responsible for selling advertising.

Their proposed joint package with the SPL is believed to fall some way short of the £125m four-year contract initially agreed with Setanta for the start of the 2010-11 season.

However, it is expected to bring in close to the £13.5m yearly figure that the most recent Setanta deal promised.

Setanta collapsed at the end of the season after failing to make deadlines for regular payments made to both the Premier League in England and its Scottish counterpart.

The Irish broadcaster reneged on the final payment of £3m due to the SPL for broadcasting live games last season and the league decided to seek new partners.

Acceptance of any new deal would require all 12 clubs to vote on a formal resolution, which would have to be supported by a majority of at least eight to four.

One firm decision made by the SPL on Tuesday was the appointment of Neil Doncaster as chief executive, a post he previously held with Norwich City.




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Related to this story:

Doncaster appointed new SPL chief (07 Jul 09 |  Scottish Premier )
ESPN to launch UK sports channel (07 Jul 09 |  Business )
Levein bullish on SPL TV future (27 Jun 09 |  Dundee Utd )
Thompson defends SPL world appeal (24 Jun 09 |  Scottish Premier )
SPL announces £23m record profit (23 Jun 09 |  Scottish Premier )
Setanta goes into administration (23 Jun 09 |  Business )
SPL seeks new television contract (22 Jun 09 |  Scottish Premier )

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