Setanta pair hanging on
SETANTA founders Michael O’Rourke and Leonard Ryan were last night locked in talks to salvage their moribund sports channel.
The duo were determined to launch one last audacious bid to save their pay-TV venture by raising the funds to buy out investors Goldman Sachs and Doughty Hanson – who have refused to plough more money into the loss-making venture.
“Like all good entrepreneurs, they refuse to give up,” said one source close to the pair, who are understood to have approached their influential Irish contacts – including telecoms tycoon Denis O’Brien and concert promoter Denis Desmond – for a cash injection.
But last night the odds seemed stacked against them raising the cash to buy out investors and meet hefty payments for the Premier League football rights that are so crucial to the firm’s survival.