Administrators to pay-TV firm ITV Digital are likely to put it up for sale after failing to reach a settlement with the Football League over rights to screen matches, industry sources say.
The administrators are holding out the prospect of selling ITV Digital as a going concern if they cannot resolve their dispute with the league, but industry analysts doubted they would find a buyer.
If ITV Digital cannot be sold as a going concern, the administrators could be forced to break it up and hold a fire sale of its assets.
The administrators are to give a progress report today about talks with the company's biggest and most hostile creditor, the English Football League. The League comprises the 72 clubs below the elite 20-team Premier League.
ITV Digital says it cannot afford to pay the £178.5 million sterling it owes under the contract, but the league insists ITV Digital, owned by Granada and Carlton Communications, must pay up. Some clubs say they risk going bankrupt if it doesn't.
The administrators asked the high court on April 15th for an extra week to renegotiate the contract with the league while preparing ITV Digital for a sale.
Hopes were raised of a possible breakthrough when league chairman Mr Keith Harris met the heads of Granada and Carlton and the administrators on Friday. But the administrators said the meeting was merely a briefing of the parties, not negotiation.