Attempts this afternoon to subscribe online to Setanta's cable, satellite, online or Freeview services are met with an error message "Oops! Something has gone wrong...".
Meanwhile, calls to the Setanta subscription telephone line are being met with a message noting that the service is unavailable.
However, according to sources close to the company, Setanta has not yet called in the administrators. "Everyone is working flat out to save the business and that is still happening," said one executive.
Despite this, the move to effectively close its doors to new customers indicates that the appointment of an administrator could be close. When appointed, administrators generally insist the company question does not take on new customers.
Setanta declined to comment.
The business, which is attempting to renegotiate key rights deals as it looks to slash costs to stay afloat, is understood to be considering calling in the administrator as it grapples with a funding shortfall thought to be about £100m. Setanta has about 1.2 million UK direct subscribers, but needs 1.9 million to break even.
Setanta is understood to have missed a £3m payment to the Scottish Premier League last week. It is also understood to have to pay the English Premier League about £30m later this week as part of its TV rights deal.
Meanwhile, Setanta is thought to be considering an overhaul of its entire business model to save millions of pounds, by ditching its retail customers and instead becoming a supplier of programmes to firms such as BSkyB, BT Vision and Top Up TV.
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