I'm sure there was something Roger Mitchell did with the SPL that fucked yet another Sky deal when SPL TV was proposed. Can't mind the ins and outs but Mitchell did for the Sky deal believing that SPL TV was the better option, which it wasn't.
Can't remember whether AFC supported the Setanta deal or not but at the time, with just SPL games in their UK portfolio, it wasn't over stretching itself, it's really just been cunted by trying to compete with Sky. A very poor business decision.