A Setanta rescue proposal from Russian-American industrialist Len Blavatnik could create a much stronger outfit than the Irish sportscaster already is, with a vastly improved commitment to online sports broadcasting…

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Blavatnik has reportedly offered to pay £20 million for 51 percent of troubled Setanta through his Access Industries holding company. Access already owns a big stake in online sports video distributor Perform Group, the UK-based video distributor which powers sports web videos for Virgin Media, ITV several national newspaper websites, the Premier and Football Leagues and numerous clubs in football and cricket, amongst other sports and clients.

Setanta has its own nascent VOD and live-stream service, Setanta-i, but, as Patrick wrote this week, it’s main M.O. is to drive TV subscriptions. We say marrying Perform with Setanta would give the latter a considerably bigger online focus, leveraging Perform’s expertise in video distribution and syndication to commercial third parties. And it could let Perform work with not just VOD but live top-flight games. It has a four-month old premium video destination, Omnisport, which charges $5.99 each for PPV matches in tennis, soccer, basketball and more, but so far not the biggest English and Scottish soccer, nor Magners League rugby.