The Times claims that a board meeting yesterday did not result in a rescue plan and shareholders clashed over whether the loss-making business could be made viable.
There is speculation about a split between private equity firms Balderton Capital and Doughty Hanson, which each own around 20% of the company, over whether to put £50m into Setanta.
The newspaper quotes a source close to the negotiations between Setanta and its private equity owners as saying the company's survival "hung in the balance" and that its future would be decided "in a matter of days rather than weeks".
Setanta's parlous financial position has led it to miss making a £3m payment to the Scottish Premier League, due as part of its £125m deal running until 2014.
It must also find around £30m to meet an instalment due to the English Premier League before the end of the week.
If the plug is pulled on the company, Deloitte is on standby to act as administrator, but there could be severe knock-on effects for sports which are owed rights payments by the company, such as golf, rugby and cricket.
However, the English Premier League and the FA are understood to have secured shareholder guarantees ensuring they will be paid even if Setanta fails.
The Financial Times reports that the EPL was taking a tough line with Setanta yesterday and seemed ready to let it go into administration.
This could allow Disney's ESPN or another broadcaster to pick up Setanta's 46 2009/10 Premier League games and the 23 games per season it bought the rights to for the following three seasons.
Setanta's long-term future has been in question since it lost one of its two packages of Premier League games to BSkyB in February, raising fears that subscribers will defect after the 2009/10 season.
The company is estimated to need 1.9m subscribers to break even, but currently has 1.2m.
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