So, just as media regulator Ofcom delivers a damning verdict on Sky's hegemony in the premium pay-TV market, another plucky competitor slinks off into the distance with its tail between its legs.
Setanta, like On/ITV Digital before it, was ground into the dust by the competitive imperatives of UK sports broadcasting and the brutal economic environment it launched into. Unlike Rupert Murdoch in the 1990s, Setanta's backers couldn't - or wouldn't - stump up the cash to see it through the tough times to profitability.
Disney-backed ESPN has won the vacant football rights and will launch a new sports channel soon. And Sky's new opponent is a thoroughly different kettle of fish to Setanta. While little-known in the UK, ESPN is a serious broadcasting behemoth with a strong presence in most global markets. Its backers' resources dwarf even BSkyB's main shareholder News Corp's empire.
Initially, at least, the relationship between the two companies is more conciliatory than that between Setanta and Sky. ESPN has taken a pragmatic approach and will wholesale its channels and sell its advertising through Sky. It will be easier for consumers to upgrade to ESPN through their existing supplier than having to start afresh, which hindered Setanta, as did the latter's patchy reception, variable customer service and willingness to let subscribers sign up for monthly contracts rather than insisting on 12 months.
Sky will regard ESPN as a new friend as well as a foe, but figures it can benefit from extra revenues and will feel it is doing its bit to placate the regulator.
We will never know whether Setanta would have succeeded if it hadn't lost half its Premier League rights from 2010 and hadn't launched into such a harsh recession, but it certainly had the goodwill of the media buying community, which was happy to see Sky get some competition.
When the next Premier League football rights negotiations come around for the seasons from 2013-14 onwards, ESPN will have established its foothold in the British premium sports pay-TV market.
No one takes any pleasure in seeing the people at Setanta lose their jobs, but, in the long term, ESPN's well-funded entrance into the UK media market can only be beneficial, even though it is a shame a home-grown company couldn't have been the one to give Sky a proper run for its money.
