Is there room for more than UK sports pay channel?

Probably not is the answer as yesterday saw the final demise of the UK arm of Setanta after weeks of lurching from crisis to crisis.

Subscribers hoping to watch the channels were left facing a blank screen.

Another victory for Sky then who saw of ITV digital's attempts to broadcast football to the masses earlier in the decade?

The jewel in the Crown for any pay TV operator is the English Premier League.It was the deal that gave Sky its first shot in the arm and unfortunately other sporting events, whilst complimenting the Premier League coverage are not crowd pulllers on their own.

Setanta,a modestly successful Irish broadcaster saw an opportunity to encroach on Sky's domain when the powers that be took away the monopoly of Sky and Setanta initially won two out of the six packages.

They were though the second tear games,broadcst for the most part on Saturday teatime or Monday night leaving Sky with the showpiece events.

That was not enough to draw people to the service.Even US PGA golf,FA Cup coverage and the IPL failed to push subscriber numbers up to the required 1.9m.

When Sky won back one of the packages,it was the beginning of the end.Now 200 jobs and £450 million of investors money is at stake.

ESPN is running to take over the mantle,having already secured Setanta's premier league rights.

But surey for it to work it must form alliances with Sky?