Setanta is expected to fall into the hands of administrators after being stripped of its right to broadcast Premier League football matches next season and after its supposed Russian white knight pulled the rug from under a multimillion-pound investment.

The Premier League terminated its contract with Setanta after the Irish broadcaster failed to make a scheduled £10 million payment on £30 million owed before last night’s deadline.

“It is with considerable regret that we announce that Setanta has been unable to meet their obligations,” the Premier League said. “As such, the existing licence agreement between us has been terminated with immediate effect.”

The Premier League will now market the 46 UK live matches for the 2009-10 season.

Hours after the Premier League’s decision, Access Industries, the conglomerate controlled by Len Blavatnik, the American industrialist of Russian origin, which had put forward a £20 million bid for a 51 per cent share in the company, said that its offer was no longer on the table.

Access said it was because “certain conditions required to put the business on a long-term viable footing” had not been met.

“Regrettably, despite intensive efforts on all sides over the past few days, and despite significant progress in a number of areas, there remain a number of issues which we have been unable to resolve within the time available.

"We are disappointed not to have been able to make this deal happen.”

The withdrawal of Access, combined with the loss of the football rights, is likely to prove fatal for Setanta. Premier League games are the main draw for most of its’ subscribers and, without them, it could face an exodus of customers.

Deloitte has been lined up as administrator should the company fail. Such a move would threaten 430 jobs, including about 200 in the Republic of Ireland.

Nevertheless, last night Leonard Ryan, co-founder of Setanta, suggested that it may not be game over.

“I can’t speak. I’m trying to look at a Plan B. All I can say is that there is more going on here than everyone thinks,” he said.

One Setanta insider claimed that talks between Access and Setanta were continuing but the terms of its offer would now change because of the loss of football rights.

Setanta has been on a knife-edge for weeks as it tried to raise additional cash to plug a £100 million funding gap created when it did not retain both of its Premier League rights packages beyond 2010.

The Dublin-based group had looked set to collapse for much of last week until news that Access had made a bid.

Industry sources said last night that Access had been concerned by aspects of Setanta’s structure, including the fact that parts of its business were incorporated in Luxembourg, along with undisclosed VAT liabilities that were said to be owed to HM Revenue & Customs.

It is understood that, all told, these could have created a “black hole” of as much as £50 million in Setanta’s accounts and were the biggest single factor in Access walking away.

It is believed that, in a last-ditch attempt to persuade Access to stay on board, Setanta’s executives were offering to re-register parts of the business as recently as Thursday night.

A spokesman for Setanta said: “This is a disgrace that people are telling lies about the tax position of the company. There is no black hole.”

The collapse of Setanta would leave British sport with a £500 million-plus headache.

Football and rugby union clubs would be at risk of reduced incomes. English football is facing a shortfall of more than £400 million if Setanta fails.

Premier League sources said last night that there were two potential buyers eager to pick up the matches, which will be up for grabs from Monday.

ESPN, the Walt Disney majority-owned American network, is thought to be one.

If the Premier League decides to auction the 46 matches as two parcels of 23, there would be nothing to stop BSkyB — which is 39.2 per cent owned by News Corporation, parent company of The Times — from bidding for one.

Under European competition law, no one broadcaster may have exclusive rights to broadcast Premier League matches.

Fallen hero

•The company was founded in 1990 in the back room of a London pub when Michael O’Rourke and Leonard Ryan, the co-founders, discovered that a Republic of Ireland World Cup match was not being screened live in the UK

•Setanta is the original name of Cuchulainn, a Irish hero and Celtic warrior king, said to have lived in the 1st century

•Setanta has about 1.2 million subscribers in Britain

•Shareholders include Goldman, Balderton Capital, Doughty Hanson and Montrica

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