Setanta staying up?

Just as the Premier League's relegation battle intensifies, the survival struggle at sports television station, Setanta, is also hotting up.
Its shareholders have written off the value of their investment while the subscription channel is seeking to renegotiate its agreement with the Scottish Premier League (among other deals).
So is an early bath for the station assured? Well, possibly not. Television execs suggest that the demise of Setanta would be a significant inconvenience to market leader Sky Sports - which needs a competitor to appease the EU but would prefer the opposition comes from a weak Setanta than, say, the galacticos at ESPN.
The problem for Sky execs is a tricky one, however. How do they prevent Setanta from going down, without upsetting the competition referee?