Indeed, it would make a lot of sense for ESPN to buy many more of the Setanta assets once they are finally put to rest.
But I do grieve over the brave little Irish company who gave me the only link to rugby during those barren TV years when I lived in the US.
Setanta would show UK sports in Irish pubs across the States and, for the bigger events, have doormen who would collect $20 entrance fees.
I once did a sum on how much they collected and, at the time, it was phenomenal. It was an unassailiable business model that delivery over the internet could not match.
Ironically, going mainstream was the downfall of Setanta. They wanted to be a broadcaster and not a narrowcaster. Seperately, their efforts online were always poor, despite their acquisition of Servecast (who have subsequently been sold on to L3).
I expect this to be the latest in an ongoing trend of acquisitions of dirt cheap UK TV assets by American companies.
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