Breaking news of a radical reform of its business model (Setanta considers wholesale switch), the Financial Times suggested that the sports broadcaster would consider ditching its retail customers in order to reduce annual losses of £100m.

It would instead become a wholesale supplier of programmes, including Premier League football, to broadcasters such as British Sky Broadcasting and BT Vision, reported the FT.

Quoting from a note on Setanta’s cash crisis written by Claire Enders and Toby Syfret, the FT endorsed their view that the participation of BSkyB would be a key to the success of a scheme, “the one escape route from Setanta’s predicament”.

Allowing BSkyB to sell to customers on Setanta’s behalf would bring the benefit of Sky’s broader subscriber base and more than halve its current annual operating expenses to about £55m. As the FT pointed out: "Setanta, with 1.2m subscribers, is still far from reaching a break-even point that Ms Enders estimates at 1.9m."

Summarising their views on Setanta, Claire Enders and Toby Syfret added:  “The sum total of £125m in annual cost savings by 2011 comfortably exceeds the current estimated annual operating loss of £90m in Setanta’s UK operation. On balance, we believe that the switch to a wholesale-only model leaves Setanta with a fighting chance, and it is vital it happens quickly.”

Following implementation in January of the French government's ban on prime time advertising (TV ad ban creates no windfall for webs), Variety suggested that analysts had originally predicted that the dominant commercial channels, TF1 and M6, would receive a windfall: "Sarkozy's critics argued the real aim of the scheme was to benefit his private sector friends. But things turned out differently."

Variety reported that TF1 recorded a 27% drop in first quarter advertising revenue compared to the same period last year, to $442 million. With audience levels "satisfactory," the company blamed the plunge on the deteriorating advertising market, strong downward pressure on prices, and the compensation tax. M6 reported an 11% fall in advertising revenue to $202 million in the first quarter, blaming the drop on low volumes.

François Godard was asked for his view. He said: "We're in some sort of negative feedback loop... There's less inventory on sale, and the prices are collapsing, whereas you would expect lower inventory to sustain prices." He added: "Indications are that (DTT) net revenues have increased, but we don't know for sure the exact balance of the market... There is still some fog around exactly what has happened."