* Setanta's UK operations enter administration
* Irish and international business continue trading
* More than 1,000 jobs affected (Adds BSkyB comment)
By Tom Freke
LONDON, June 23 (Reuters) - The almost three million British households which subscribe to broadcaster Setanta Sports will have their service switched off by the end of the day after the company called in administrators on Tuesday.
The board of privately-held Setanta Sports appointed Deloitte as administrators after failing to secure additional financing, Setanta said.
Setanta International and Setanta Ireland, which have around 200,000 subscribers, are not covered by the appointments and will continue trading, Deloitte said.
The news comes after the English Premier League terminated its live match contract with Setanta on Friday, saying the company was unable to meet its payments. The League then awarded the lucrative rights to Disney ESPN (DIS.N) on Monday.
"After a huge effort by the Setanta board, management team and its backers, it has not been possible to save the GB business, which will be wound down in due course," said Neville Khan of Deloitte.
Setanta will wind down its British operations and its British output will go off air shortly, Deloitte said, leading to the loss of about 200 jobs, out of a total of 420.
Third-party call centres contracted by Setanta will be hit by the news, with around 950 jobs likely to be affected, Deloitte said in a conference call.
Subscriptions in the UK will stop being collected immediately and subscribers should act to stop any bank payments, Deloitte said. The company has no money to make any refunds for ending subscriptions early, the administrator added.
IRISH RESCUE
A buyer is being sought for the Irish and international operations, and a deal could be announced within days, Khan said in a conference call.
A number of buyers are looking at the business, he added.
The British business came close to being rescued 10 days ago, Khan said, but a deal could not be reached as the deadline ran out on payments due to the English Premier League. Continued...
The UK operations of Setanta Sports have been placed into administration. Financial firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu confirmed the division would be liquidated.

The sports broadcaster, which employs 420 people in Ireland and the UK, entered administration after plans to raise fresh capital through the Russian-American businessman Leonard Blavatnik failed.

With effect from today, the company is to cease accepting payments from television customers who had subscribed to its broadcasting services, and 200 employees in the United Kingdom are to be made redundant. Administrators will attempt to find a buyer for the Irish and international arms of the company.

The administrators at Deloitte are Neville Kahn, Lee Manning, and Nick Edwards. The specific companies in administration are Setanta Sport Ltd and Setanta Transmissions (UK) Ltd. Setanta Ireland is not under administration.

Setanta's UK sports channels, Setanta Sports 1 & 2, have ceased transmission in the UK, but are continuing transmission in Ireland. Other UK channels that have gone off-air include Setanta Golf and Setanta Sports News.  

Racing UK, which was bundled by satellite and cable television operators with Setanta channels, is not owned by Setanta and will continue transmission. Customers who subscribed to the channel via Setanta will be offered the option of subscribing to the channel directly.

64 of the people facing redundancy work for ITN, which had contracted with Setanta to produce Setanta Sports News. 

The rights that Setanta had to broadcast football matches to subscribers are to revert to their rights holders. The rights to broadcast 46 Premier League football matches for the next football season, and 23 matches for the three following seasons, have already reverted, and were sold to United States broadcaster ESPN for £260 million yesterday.

Because of UK and European Union monopoly and competition laws, broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting is not permitted to bid for the broadcasting rights that Setanta had.