THE sports broadcaster Setanta is fighting for its life this weekend as a new management team holds urgent talks to raise cash and slash the amount it pays for sports rights.

Sir Robin Miller, the Emap publishing veteran, has been parachuted in as Setanta’s chairman to lead it through an emergency refinancing.

The company, which has 1.2m customers and broadcasts Premier League and England international football, faces an uncertain future unless it can raise up to £100m this month from shareholders including private-equity firms Doughty Hanson and Balderton Capital.

Accountants from Deloitte have also been called in to work alongside long-time advisers at Close Brothers and could be appointed as administrators if negotiations fail.

Setanta is understood to have agreements in principle from sports bodies including the PGA golf tour that could let it cut up to £20m from the estimated £120m a year it will spends on rights from 2010.

The company was dealt a severe blow when it won the rights to screen only 23 Premier League fixtures per season from 2010. The rest will air on BSkyB, which is 39.1% owned by News Corporation, ultimate parent company of The Sunday Times.

The Irish company is racing to find funding for a payment of £35m to the Premier League due on May 15. Some rights partners, including IPL cricket and the Ultimate Fighting Championship, are said to be broadly supportive. However, they want evidence that Setanta has a future before agreeing to reducing the value of contracts, while shareholders want to see that the company is able to cut costs so it can remain a viable business before putting in more cash.

Only the Football Association, which splits FA Cup games and England’s home internationals between Setanta and ITV, is understood to be digging in its heels.

Setanta is also trying to renegotiate contracts that have yet to start. At a meeting with Scottish Premier League clubs in Glasgow this Thursday the company will try to chop both the length and value of a four-year £125m deal due to begin in 2010.

Miller’s last job was as chairman of the debt-laden Entertainment Rights – home to Basil Brush and Postman Pat – which was bought from administration by an American media firm. He is working with Gary McIlraith, a former Sky executive who became Setanta’s acting chief executive last month.

Founded in 1990 by Leonard Ryan and Michael O’Rourke, Setanta began life beaming Irish football to expats in London. It grew steadily and burst onto the national scene when it broke Sky’s stranglehold on Premier League games in 2006.

Disney, which bid unsuccessfully for some Premier League rights earlier this year, has long been linked to a bid for Setanta. The company tried to sell itself last year but called off the process because of limited interest.

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