Bids to broadcast the two packages of games will be lodged with the league today while at the same time Setanta is expected to appoint administrators.
The rights on offer are for 23 Monday night games and 23 Saturday evening games. BSkyB has been tipped to acquire the Monday evening games, taking its number of packages to five, the maximum allowed under EU rules. ESPN is expected to bid for the remaining sixth package.
Industry analysts suggest the last-minute bidding may mean relatively few broadcasters will bid for the matches. Additionally the selling price is likely to be lower than the £390m Setanta paid.
It is widely acknowledged Setanta overstretched itself in paying for the EPL games. To make the investment profitable it would have had to bring in 1.9m subscribers.
However its subscriber total stalled at 1.2m, with many consumers complaining about high subscription rates.
Setanta was still in talks with potential rescuers at the end of last week when the EPL was awaiting payment after extending its deadline for the £10m instalment from Setanta until Friday. But a £20m rescue deal with Len Blavatnik, backer of Top Up TV, failed to go through at the last minute.
It is expected that Setanta will appoint Deloitte as administrators this week. It also holds the rights to 23 Premier League games per season from 2010/2011 to 2012/13 in addition to current FA Cup matches, England games and Scottish Premier League matches, although it also missed a £3m payment to that league.
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