The FA had come to a new agreement with Setanta this week - but that depended on the Premier League doing the same.

Last night's decision to terminate the deal for 46 live Premier League games next season now threatens Setanta's future including its coverage of FA Cup and England games.

FA chief executive Ian Watmore confirmed: "We are understandably very disappointed with the news that Setanta and the FAPL were unable to reach agreement.

"We have worked well with Setanta's management and potential new investors in the last week, and had reached a solution in principle that would have allowed them to meet their contractual requirements with the FA and strengthen our strategic partnership.

"However, they made it clear throughout that this was dependent on reaching agreement with the FAPL.

"We now await developments, but remain confident of the attractiveness of our broadcast rights going forward."

The Premier League cut off the Irish broadcaster's main football lifeline after the failure to pull off a last-gasp rescue package led to Setanta defaulting on the balance of a £30million payment.

Those 46 games will now be auctioned off, with Sky favourites to win half of them and ESPN the other 23 when the bidding closes on Monday.

As for Setanta, the disaster which has been looming for several weeks finally struck after efforts to woo US tycoon Len Blavatnik's Access Industries ended in failure - due to a lack of time and concerns over a £50million tax bill due to be paid by the broadcaster.

Setanta - who had a request for a 72-hour extension turned down by the Premier League - still have a contract with them to show 23 live games a season from 2010 to 2013, but after their failure to come up with the money for next season the company looks close to the point of collapse.

The focus will now shift to the rest of the Setanta's contracts including the FA deals, the Scottish Premier League, the Blue Square Conference, US PGA golf tour, boxing, the Indian Premier League and Premier Rugby.

The Premier League said they had no alternative but to terminate their agreement for next season. Now the fixtures are out, time is at a premium to decide which broadcaster will show which games.

The league said in a statement: "The Premier League has been working with Setanta for some time to help them continue as the broadcaster of 46 UK live matches for the 2009/10 Season.

"The Premier League, in agreement with Setanta, stipulated that certain contractual requirements had to be met on or before Friday 19 June 2009 to allow the preparations for the 2009/10 season to continue unaffected.

"It is with considerable regret that we announce that Setanta has been unable to meet their obligations. As such the existing licence agreement between us has been terminated with immediate effect.

"The Premier League will now go ahead and market the 46 UK live matches for the 2009/10 season."

Setanta has around 1.2 million subscribers, 700,000 short of the 1.9million that industry experts believe they need to break even.

Lex Gold, executive chairman of the Scottish Premier League, said this evening: "We are still locked in discussions with Setanta.

"Understandably, these discussions are complex and must remain confidential at this stage. We expect these to conclude early next week."