One More Thing:The owners of Setanta Sports might not be actively seeking a buyer, but a £1 billion-plus (€1.35 billion) offer must be tempting in the current economic environment.
Setanta has experienced phenomenal growth in the past few years, snapping up expensive rights to the English Premier League, US tour golf, the FA Cup, and England football internationals, among others.
It has also delivered a bloody nose or two to Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB satellite operation.
Mickey O'Rourke and Leonard Ryan have done a great job building the business to the stage where it is now one of Europe's biggest sports rights holders
and has 1.1 million premium subscribers.
That said, pay television is a cash-guzzling monster that constantly needs feeding. The credit crunch has made a stock-market listing a virtual non-runner and makes raising new funds expensive and tricky.
Setanta has estimated debts of €150 million. The company is less than one season into a three-year £392 million contract for live English Premier League football.
Bagging a renewal of these rights would undoubtedly boost its value. But the next round of bidding is likely to be more competitive and the rights are likely to be more expensive.
O'Rourke and Ryan would earn the guts of €300 million between them by cashing in their chips now. But by playing the long game, they could net a lot more.
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