Early this morning reports were surfacing that Setanta founders Michael O'Rourke and Leonard Ryan were in talks with an unidentified investor hoping to raise the 82.5 million dollars they need to stay afloat.

The Irish Sports broadcaster last week stopped taking on new subscribers and had previously asked according to reports that David Haye take a pay cut from his boxing agreement with them. Setanta needs 1.9 million subscribers to break even and currently has about 1.2 million.

In February of last year, Sports International reported

“The deal, made between Setanta and Haye’s own promotion company Haymaker Productions, runs from 1 September 2008 to 31 December 2009, and covers fights which will see Haye step up to the heavyweight division, including his first fight since his World Cruiserweight unification title win against Enzo Maccarinelli in March. The four fights will be held at the O2 Arena in London – one fight later this year, and one early next year, both against top ten ranked heavyweights, then a challenge for a world title early next summer. Setanta will also televise six other Hayemaker Productions cards featuring British and American fighters”

Media week also reported in April of 2008

Setanta Sports has signed an exclusive three-year broadcast deal with boxing promoter Frank Warren's Sports Network.

The agreement, which lasts until 2010, will grant Setanta Sport exclusive broadcast rights to fights involving Frank Warren's stable of boxers including Joe Calzaghe, Enzo Maccarinelli, Alex Arthur, Kevin Mitchell, Gavin Rees and Matt Skelton. One now begins to wonder how this will affect Frank Warren’s stable of fighters.

On the 6th of June the Guardian reported

“Suggestions that Haye pulled out because Setanta, who were to show the fight, asked him to take a cut from his already small purse met with predictable denials from the financially troubled broadcaster. Haye's deal, according to Setanta executive Sean O'Hara, was "ring-fenced" from their problems with paying £3million they owe the Scottish Premier League.”

David Price, the Olympic super-heavyweight bronze medalist who has turned professional with Haye's Hayemaker Promotions, said he had been sworn to secrecy about the injury.

But he went on to tell the Liverpool Echo: "I came home [from the training camp in Cyprus] on the Monday and David was in great shape, everything was fine. He was raring to go. I don't think anyone was more shocked than me to hear the fight was off."

Liverpool boxer, Tony Dodson, is quoted as saying,

"We were being kept away from David, which was a bit strange, but at the end of the day he's about to fight the heavyweight champion of the world so I understand why he wanted to train alone.”

My sources inside the United Kingdom are telling me that Haye’s deal for the Wladimir fight did not include a percentage from the ticket sales in Germany or any of the German television monies. His primary source of money from the Klitschko fight was from Setanta revenue and without Setanta the fight was off.

Setanta who holds the rights to broadcast two English Premier League packages or 46 games a year lost a bid for the next three-years to BSkyB and will only show 23 games per season from August 2010 against BSkyB's 115. That resulted in some investors leaving and would have resulted in lost revenue from subscribers.

With Setanta perhaps only a week away from bankruptcy it looks as if televised boxing in Britain may come to a major slowdown.

Last week major cuts were announced by the BBC that would result in 7200 job losses and reductions to its stars. Some of they higher priced headliners will take as much as a 40% pay cuts.

Early reports of a hand injury were quickly re-diagnosed as being a back ailment. One can not prove that Haye does not have a back injury though the pain may be a bit lower, somewhere around the wallet area.