TV bosses in talks to lift England blackout

Setanta was today locked in talks in a last-ditch bid to avert a terrestrial TV blackout of England's clash with Croatia.

The key World Cup qualifier in Zagreb will be shown live tonight on the satellite channel, which has so far failed to agree a deal with free-to-air broadcasters to show highlights.

However, it emerged that ITV and at least one other broadcaster - thought to be Five - were still in negotiations over an edited package to be shown around 11pm tonight.

ITV is believed to have doubled its original offer of £250,000, and talks between the stations continued this afternoon, although Setanta is understood to be holding out for £1million.

An ITV spokesman said: "We have been in talks today, and have made Setanta a substantial offer, which they have not accepted."

ITV's bid dwarfs the £300,000 it is thought to have paid for live coverage of Liverpool's Champions League qualifier against Standard Liege this month.

The move would allow the legions of angry England supporters, who are not among Setanta's three million subscribers, to see the Group Six match.

Trevor East, Setanta's director of sport, said: "We hope to make a statement later today that we have made highlights available."

East would not reveal if a compromise fee was on the table but said there was still a "huge gulf" between Setanta's asking price and offers from ITV and other broadcasters.

Setanta, which paid the Croatian Football Association £5m for live coverage, wanted around £1m for the highlights rights but ITV, BBC and the other terrestrial companies have so far refused to pay.

Previously, highlights for big England matches have been valued at around £150,000.

The stalemate had sparked fury. Mark Longden, of the Football Supporters' Federation, said: "England fans should be able to watch the team for free. These games should be protected."

But though the FA have a fouryear deal with Setanta and ITV for home England matches, they claim to have no influence on rights for away games.

An FA spokesman said: "The Andorra and Croatia FAs sold their TV rights to an agency, which then sold the British broadcast rights to Setanta. Any other broadcaster could have bid for these rights."