SILVERSTONE, England (AP)

Broadcaster Setanta's future is in doubt after a potential American investor withdrew his interest, leading to the station's Premier League TV rights being cancelled yesterday following a failure to meet a payment deadline.

New York-based Access Industries had been looking to take control of Setanta after submitting a proposal to refinance the company, but a rescue package collapsed after key issues could not be resolved.

deadline

That meant Setanta failed to meet to deadline to make a payment of about £10 million ($US 16.4 million dollars) to broadcast 46 live matches in the upcoming Premier League season.

United States tycoon Len Blavatnik's Access Industries had been looking to acquire a majority interest in Setanta. While those talks could be revived, no date has been set by either side.

intensive efforts

"Regrettably, despite intensive efforts on all sides over the past few days, and despite significant progress in a number of areas, there remain a number of issues which we have been unable to resolve within the time available," Access Industries said in a statement. "We are disappointed not to have been able to make this deal happen. Access remains committed to sports programming and will continue to explore opportunities in this area."

In Britain, Setanta has about 1.2 million subscribers, short of the reported 1.9 million it needs to break even. It also has channels in the United States, Canada, Australia and Ireland, and broadcasts Premier League matches in some of those countries and Britain.