Sky eye up the All Ireland championship matches?

hardybuck

If SKY get access to games, and people in Ireland need to pay to subscribe to that service, I think we're moving a step closer to professionalism.

Fair enough, we currently sell our rights to live games the State broadcaster and TV3, selling them for a larger premium which forces people to pay extra to view them would be pretty cynical.

Croke Park is debt free. We're likely to have our regional stadia upgraded through funds provided by the Government/IRFU.

We've seen that the All Ireland quarter finals are obviously less important than staging the Garth Brooks concerts this year - the concerts finishing four days before the quarters take place? The pitch will be in rag order.

They've proved themselves to be commercially sound, they've got their books in order, what will they do with the inevitable pile of cash which will accumulate? County Boards will want to get their hands on it in either event as the cost of preparing county teams is going through the roof.

Redsoxfan

If the GAA are serious about promoting the game on an international basis (as opposed to just accomodating the Irish abroad) they should be offering the All Ireland Finals free to air to any international (on a non-subscription/PPV) broadcaster who wants them IMHO. American Football is largely shown in pay TV in the UK (via Sky) but the Super Bowl is available FTA is well as on Sky. Bulid up overseas interest via the All Ireland Finals, make money from the rest of the Championship.

As for granting Sky any exclusive Irish rights to Championship matches, I am generally opposed, even if, as a Sky Sports subscriber, it doesn't really affect me. In my view, some or most of the football analysis on TV3 was superior to the three stoogies on RTE, and at least both RTE and TV3 are available FTA via a traditional aeriel/Saorview setup.

The decision to do away with showing certain Qualifier games free of charge (in Ireland) on RTE.ie a number of years ago was already a retrograde step IMHO.

Apolgies if I have missed, but what happens to BBC Norn Iron live coverage? Maybe it's not affected as it was non exclusive as far as know?

Frankie Lee

I wouldn't be surprised to see them using the likes of Shane Long as analysts. As long as Niall Quinn is kept away I'm in favour.

hotmail.com

If Sky or TV3 are willing to show it, I don't know why RTE should spend licence fee money on it. That goes for all sports.

keano89

Redsoxfan wrote: »

If the GAA are serious about promoting the game on an international basis (as opposed to just accomodating the Irish abroad) they should be offering the All Ireland Finals free to air to any international (on a non-subscription/PPV) broadcaster who wants them IMHO. American Football is largely shown in pay TV in the UK (via Sky) but the Super Bowl is available FTA is well as on Sky. Bulid up overseas interest via the All Ireland Finals, make money from the rest of the Championship.

As for granting Sky any exclusive Irish rights to Championship matches, I am generally opposed, even if, as a Sky Sports subscriber, it doesn't really affect me. In my view, some or most of the football analysis on TV3 was superior to the three stoogies on RTE, and at least both RTE and TV3 are available FTA via a traditional aeriel/Saorview setup.

The decision to do away with showing certain Qualifier games free of charge (in Ireland) on RTE.ie a number of years ago was already a retrograde step IMHO.

Apolgies if I have missed, but what happens to BBC Norn Iron live coverage? Maybe it's not affected as it was non exclusive as far as know?

Thats right some of the best hurling matches last year were not shown live, Dublin v Kilkenny x2 (one was shown on RTE website alright), Wexford v Clare and Laois v Galway.

As long as this deal means more games being shown live I'm all for it.

irishfeen

How does everyone think the GAA hiarchy will try justify sending a reported 14 games behind the paywall? ... Most games still available FTA, adding much needed funds to grassroots, expanding the reach of the game?? ...

Flukey

This is an absolute disgrace and should never be done. :mad: GAA games, and indeed all sport, should be on free to view. I would never subscribe to Sky. They tell us their coverage is brilliant, yet they are afraid to compete against any other channels. They should compete on the quality of their product. Come the world cup this summer or for the recent Six Nations, we can sit down and flick between channels and decide who we think is providing the best coverage. You can't do that with anything Sky Sports broadcast. They compete by buying the rights when other channels are trying to, you say. That is not competing. That is a bit like me saying to all of you that I can run faster than you, and to prove it we will have a race. There is just one condition on the race. Only the person who pays the most money can run in it. If Sky Sports really want to compete, then they should do it on their quality of their coverage not the size of their wallet. They do it with some of their channels, like News. They should do it with all of their channels. Then we the public can see our sport, the way it should be. Everyone who subscribes to Sky or any other pay per view channel should stop doing so and put them all out of business. Sport would return to all our TVs then. Our two national sports should never be shown on any exclusive channels. If the GAA want more money then let some other channels show Gaelic Games by all means, but without taking it from other channels.

WesternZulu

Flukey wrote: »

This is an absolute disgrace and should never be done. :mad: GAA games, and indeed all sport, should be on free to view. I would never subscribe to Sky. They tell us their coverage is brilliant, yet they are afraid to compete against any other channels. They should compete on the quality of their product. Come the world cup this summer or for the recent Six Nations, we can sit down and flick between channels and decide who we think is providing the best coverage. You can't do that with anything Sky Sports broadcast. They compete by buying the rights when other channels are trying to, you say. That is not competing. That is a bit like me saying to all of you that I can run faster than you, and to prove it we will have a race. There is just one condition on the race. Only the person who pays the most money can run in it. If Sky Sports really want to compete, then they should do it on their quality of their coverage not the size of their wallet. They do it with some of their channels, like News. They should do it with all of their channels. Then we the public can see our sport, the way it should be. Everyone who subscribes to Sky or any other pay per view channel should stop doing so and put them all out of business. Sport would return to all our TVs then. Our two national sports should never be shown on any exclusive channels. If the GAA want more money then let some other channels show Gaelic Games by all means, but without taking it from other channels.

But where would sporting bodies get revenue then?
Revenue steams for live sports are worth a fortune, but would be worth next to nothing if everyone could get them...you can't have it every way.

munchkin_utd

Flukey wrote: »

This is an absolute disgrace and should never be done. :mad:<snip>
Our two national sports should never be shown on any exclusive channels. <snip>

again, its already on the subscription channel Setanta sports for the league AND abroad is nowhere to be had outside of paying 100s if not 1000s for the privilidge (of which the GAA sees literally almost nothing )

Flukey

WesternZulu wrote: »

But where would sporting bodies get revenue then?
Revenue steams for live sports are worth a fortune, but would be worth next to nothing if everyone could get them...you can't have it every way.

The GAA have been getting the money from other channels without selling exclusive rights to pay per view channels. It is already causing anger amongst fans and a lot of them will not watch. A full wallet with fewer people watching their games isn't that great. That is not what the GAA want. They want more viewers, not less. A little money from each of lots of channels and people being able to see the games, is better than one channel paying them a large amount of money and having a smaller TV audience.

irishfeen

munchkin_utd wrote: »

again, its already on the subscription channel Setanta sports for the league AND abroad is nowhere to be had outside of paying 100s if not 1000s for the privilidge (of which the GAA sees literally almost nothing )

Yes but the league is relatively irrelevant in the grand scheme of things - the GAA Championship is the pinnacle of the sport and to remove the right for all communities rich, poor, city, rural to watch the games FTA in Ireland is disgraceful ... its what set the GAA apart year after year - you could watch the game as a kid at home with your parents while down the road you grandparents could be sitting back in their wing backs enjoying the marvel of our games for free (albeit not free after all those church gate collections, lotto draws etc.).

Its simple some people just cannot afford to buy Sky Sports (people struggling in debt, morgages, people with young kids, people who lost their jobs, elderly on old age pensions) many elderly people probably don't even have a sky box in the house.

Prop Joe

Flukey wrote: »

A little money from each of lots of channels and people being able to see the games, is better than one channel paying them a large amount of money and having a smaller TV audience.

Correct....The GAA really needs to look at itself if they are going to take championship from free to air

keane2097

I wonder why so many people believe they're entitled to see every game for nothing? Not saying they shouldn't be but certainly not convinced about it.

Of the million or so people that watched the All Ireland final last year, I suspect many contribute literally nothing to the GAA during the year.

irishfeen

keane2097 wrote: »

I wonder why so many people believe they're entitled to see every game for nothing? Not saying they shouldn't be but certainly not convinced about it.

Of the million or so people that watched the All Ireland final last year, I suspect many contribute literally nothing to the GAA during the year.

Well from our point of view we paid (along with others) €1000 to help build our local GAA complex, we give at church gate collections, play the local GAA lotto and up to recently payed into the Cork County GAA monthly raffle thing and myself, my father or my brothers never played in the local club GAA... to be fair I think most people support the GAA and them being an Amateur organisation means we all should be able to watch these games FTA.

hardybuck

keane2097 wrote: »

I wonder why so many people believe they're entitled to see every game for nothing? Not saying they shouldn't be but certainly not convinced about it.

Of the million or so people that watched the All Ireland final last year, I suspect many contribute literally nothing to the GAA during the year.

Every license fee payer in the country, regardless of whether they watched or not, paid for the rights which RTE bought to screen the game.

Every tax payer in the country contributed to the construction of Croke Park. Approximately €110m of the total €260m construction costs were funded by the taxpayer and lottery funds.

Slideshowbob

The sellout of the GAA to commercial interests continues ....

• Back door championship = more matches, more revenue
• Galway hurlers in Leinster champs
• More than permitted concerts in Croke Park
• Distain for handball club at Croke Park
• Now, Sky move in on TV rights

Flukey

keane2097 wrote: »

I wonder why so many people believe they're entitled to see every game for nothing? Not saying they shouldn't be but certainly not convinced about it.

Of the million or so people that watched the All Ireland final last year, I suspect many contribute literally nothing to the GAA during the year.

We want to spread the popularity of the games, so it is good that people who are not involved can see them. Those people have at least shown enough interest to sit down and watch the matches, which is a start. Many of them may get involved. Having just seen an All-Ireland final on TV, some of the kids in those households may run out into their gardens and pick up a ball and start to pretend they are one of the players they have just watched. The seed has been sown. They may join a school team or club, and then the parents get involved too, even if it is just as a spectator.

At one time, only finals and semi-finals were televised live. When they started to cover more games the GAA were afraid that attendances would drop. In fact, they rose. Even if they never get involved, there is no reason people can't watch for free. Should people who never did any acting of any kind be stopped from watching dramas and movies? Should people who can't play an instrument be stopped from watching music programmes? Of course not. So people who have no involvement whatsoever in GAA should be allowed to watch for free, along with the rest of us. It can grown those active in the game. Equally, they should not be ripped off by the likes of Sky and the GAA should never facilitate that.

keane2097

Flukey wrote: »

We want to spread the popularity of the games, so it is good that people who are not involved can see them. Those people have at least shown enough interest to sit down and watch the matches, which is a start. Many of them may get involved. Having just seen an All-Ireland final on TV, some of the kids in those households may run out into their gardens and pick up a ball and start to pretend they are one of the players they have just watched. The seed has been sown. They may join a school team or club, and then the parents get involved too, even if it is just as a spectator.

At one time, only finals and semi-finals were televised live. When they started to cover more games the GAA were afraid that attendances would drop. In fact, they rose. Even if they never get involved, there is no reason people can't watch for free. Should people who never did any acting of any kind be stopped from watching dramas and movies? Should people who can't play an instrument be stopped from watching music programmes? Of course not. So people who have no involvement whatsoever in GAA should be allowed to watch for free, along with the rest of us. It can grown those active in the game. Equally, they should not be ripped off by the likes of Sky and the GAA should never facilitate that.

That's a very poorly constructed analogy to be fair.

What you're really asking is whether I should be allowed watch every Rolling Stones concert for free on TV or if I should get to see every play in the West End for free on TV just because I pay a TV license and Mick Jagger and Ian McKellen are sometimes on TV.

irishfeen

keane2097 wrote: »

That's a very poorly constructed analogy to be fair.

What you're really asking is whether I should be allowed watch every Rolling Stones concert for free on TV or if I should get to see every play in the West End for free on TV just because I pay a TV license and Mick Jagger and Ian McKellen are sometimes on TV.

But its not the same in any way... the GAA is amateur organisation and everyone has contributed to our national game personally and via tax including grants to the GAA... not one euro of that funding went to paying the players.

An awful lot of other sporting organisations curse the GAA for the funding it receives at their expense - the very least we can expect is that the national game could be kept FTA in Ireland.

Fianna Fowl

Slideshowbob wrote: »

The sellout of the GAA to commercial interests continues ....

• Back door championship = more matches, more revenue
• Galway hurlers in Leinster champs
• More than permitted concerts in Croke Park
• Distain for handball club at Croke Park
• Now, Sky move in on TV rights

• Back door championship Great success
• Galway hurlers in Leinster champs Great success
• More than permitted concerts in Croke Park Croker is a great venue and more money to develop GAA infrastructure around the country
  
• Distain for handball club at Croke Park Just because some folks bought pints in the bar does not mean they own it. If that was the case i'd own every second bar in Dublin.
• Now, Sky move in on TV rights Lets wait for the announcement before we decide. As someone who lived abroad in North America, you are never going to grow the sport there by showing it in Irish bars in the morning. Most Americans would never bring their children to a bar in the morning (and rightly so!)

keane2097

irishfeen wrote: »

But its not the same in any way... the GAA is amateur organisation and everyone has contributed to our national game personally and via tax including grants to the GAA... not one euro of that funding went to paying the players.

An awful lot of other sporting organisations curse the GAA for the funding it receives at their expense - the very least we can expect is that the national game could be kept FTA in Ireland.

Realistically, there are grants for absolutely everything in one shape or form.

The taxpayers contribute in ways great and small to every business in the country. That doesn't give Joe Soap the right to a free food from the local farmer or free fish off a trawler anymore than it gives them an entitlement to get into Croke Park for free.

I'm not convinced this grants thing is a good argument as to why when you put a camera on what's going on in Croke Park suddenly we're all entitled to get the goods for nothing because taxes. If that argument works for TV it works for turning up at the gates just as well, or at least I can't see a reason why it's any different.

munchkin_utd

hardybuck wrote: »

Every license fee payer in the country, regardless of whether they watched or not, paid for the rights which RTE bought to screen the game.

Every tax payer in the country contributed to the construction of Croke Park. Approximately €110m of the total €260m construction costs were funded by the taxpayer and lottery funds.

and Landsdowne road was funded far more generously than that directly from the taxpayer, and FAI has certain games only on Sky and the Rabo cup games for IRFU teams is also just gone sky only.

so whats your point exactly?

Fianna Fowl

11 of the top 20 Sports programmes were GAA including the top 3. RTE make significant advertising revenues from these matches. The GAA should get paid no less per viewer that the IRFU and the FAI. The GAA's role should not be to subsidize RTE.


Top Sport Programmes, Men 15+

January - December 2013



The Top 20 sports programmes watched by Men 15+ in 2013 were all on RTÉ Two. Full details are listed below:
Rank & Programme

AV TVR

AV 000's

AV Share

1. All Ireland Football Final: Dublin v Mayo

30.72

513.1

77.76%

2. All Ireland Hurling Final: Clare v Cork

27.25

455.0

73.05%

3. All-Ireland Football Semi-Final: Dublin v Kerry

26.02

434.5

72.99%

4. RBS 6 Nations Rugby: Ireland v England

23.30

385.3

57.66%

5. All-Ireland Hurling Semi-Final: Dublin v Cork

20.02

330.9

64.62%

6. All-Ireland Football Semi-Final: Mayo v Tyrone

19.98

330.3

65.72%

7. World Cup 2014 Qualifier: Republic of Ireland v Austria

19.18

317.2

46.19%

8. RBS 6 Nations Rugby: Ireland v France

19.18

317.2

54.20%

9. All Ireland Hurling Final Replay: Clare v Cork

19.05

318.2

60.43%

10. All Ireland Hurling Semi-Final: Limerick v Clare

18.89

312.3

57.61%

11. All Ireland Hurling Qtr-Final: Galway v Clare

18.45

304.9

57.83%

12. World Cup 2014 Qualifier: Sweden v Republic of Ireland

17.93

296.6

41.64%

13. All Ireland Football Qtr-Final: Dublin v Cork

17.93

296.4

56.31%

14. RBS 6 Nations Rugby: Wales v Ireland

16.98

280.8

61.90%

15. World Cup 2014 Qualifier: Republic of Ireland v Sweden

16.85

281.3

44.78%

16. Guinness Autumn Rugby International: Ireland v New Zealand

16.52

275.9

53.87%

17. Guinness Autumn Rugby International: Ireland v Australia

15.90

265.6

43.57%

18. World Cup 2014 Qualifier: Austria v Republic of Ireland

15.59

260.4

41.90%

19. Leinster Senior Football Semi-Final: Dublin v Kildare

15.05

248.9

50.58%

20. All Ireland Hurling Qtr-Final: Cork v Kilkenny

14.86

245.7

54.22%

Source: TAM Ireland Ltd / Nielsen TAM
Based on Men 15+, National, All Channels, January - December 2013, Consolidated
Minimum Programme Duration: 15 mins

hardybuck

munchkin_utd wrote: »

and Landsdowne road was funded far more generously than that directly from the taxpayer, and FAI has certain games only on Sky and the Rabo cup games for IRFU teams is also just gone sky only.

so whats your point exactly?

Incorrect. Croke Park development was approximately 42% funded. The Aviva was approximately 46% funded.

My point is that the taxpayer and license payer have both paid to watch those games in some shape or form - they're not getting them for free.

Rabo is an international competition which involves teams from 4 nations. The IRFU only has a certain amount of control of negotiations - which is probably what happened there.

The insignificant FAI friendly games are broadcast on Sky, however I'm not sure if the likes of RTE actually want to show those games.

Regardless, you're comparing two professional organisations to one amateur organisation. Their commercial intent should be different.

KevIRL

Some of the outcry and rage over the Sky-GAA thing is quite laughable. They arent selling the rights to all championship games, its 14 games during the championship. It wont be the main games or anything like it, going by the package TV3 got last year they will be low priority games. Also they will do a damn sight better than TV3 with their production and analysis

Anyway the main thing that GAA fans should be giving out about re TV coverage is the continued idiocy of the organisation in insisting on only showing 1 qualifer game per round (1 between both codes) live on TV. These are the knock out games when everything is on the line and they will only permit one to be shown while earlier in the summer a whole pile of comparatively meaningless early provincial rounds are shown.

When will they get the message that the more games on TV the better.

Fianna Fowl

hardybuck wrote: »

Incorrect. Croke Park development was approximately 42% funded. The Aviva was approximately 46% funded.

My point is that the taxpayer and license payer have both paid to watch those games in some shape or form - they're not getting them for free.

Rabo is an international competition which involves teams from 4 nations. The IRFU only has a certain amount of control of negotiations - which is probably what happened there.

The insignificant FAI friendly games are broadcast on Sky, however I'm not sure if the likes of RTE actually want to show those games.

Regardless, you're comparing two professional organisations to one amateur organisation. Their commercial intent should be different.

Incorrect. Taxpayer paid €19m to Croke Park, national lottery €91m. The main difference is that it came in bits and pieces. With every €20m allocation paid a hospital consultant was on to Joe Duffy wondering why the GAA were getting this and what about the sick patients (of course what they really were saying was pay us more....)

Taxpayer paid €191m to build a piss poor stadium in Ballsbridge that must have used gold bullion for its foundations because the total cost was somehow €410m (or €470m according to the Dail record).

hotmail.com

The only station you get to watch GAA for free on is TV3. RTE's coverage is paid by your licence fee, so it ain't free there.

Flukey

The GAA may have taken a lot of tax payer's money, but an awful lot goes back in. A lot of PAYE and VAT would have gone back during the construction of course. Then there is the amount people spend due to the GAA which goes into the economy. When thousands of people go into a town on matchday, they spend a lot of money helping the local economy and a lot of that goes back to the government. Sunday nights would be very quiet around the country without the GAA bringing people out and then into the pubs, restaurants, GAA clubs etc. The government have got more than their money's worth through the investment in the GAA. Of course the same can be said of other sports, but none of them generates the revenue like the GAA does. I recently put up a thread asking how much the GAA habit costs people. A lot goes back into the coffers of the government. That's even before the other ways the GAA saves the government money, by their social contribution, by providing recreation for people. How many wild young lads are kept on the straight and narrow by being in the GAA, instead of ending up with nothing to do and maybe getting into trouble and costing the country huge amounts. Critics of the GAA will always throw the line of GAA having got millions from the tax payer, but it is a red herring. Anyway, we digress. It is better to give tax to the government and for it to help society than stick it into Rupert Murdoch's pocket.

Dirty Dingus McGee

hardybuck wrote: »

Incorrect. Croke Park development was approximately 42% funded. The Aviva was approximately 46% funded.

My point is that the taxpayer and license payer have both paid to watch those games in some shape or form - they're not getting them for free.

Rabo is an international competition which involves teams from 4 nations. The IRFU only has a certain amount of control of negotiations - which is probably what happened there.

The insignificant FAI friendly games are broadcast on Sky, however I'm not sure if the likes of RTE actually want to show those games.

Regardless, you're comparing two professional organisations to one amateur organisation. Their commercial intent should be different.

Aviva cost €410 million to build
Croke Park cost €260 million to build

So the FAI and IRFU got a good deal more money for building their stadium than the GAA did although a large amount of teh country and the media in particular conveniently forgot this.

hardybuck

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

Aviva cost €410 million to build
Croke Park cost €260 million to build

So the FAI and IRFU got a good deal more money for building their stadium than the GAA did although a large amount of teh country and the media in particular conveniently forgot this.

Croke Park was completed in 2004. The 2004 project cost €260m I should add.

Aviva project started in 2007 and completed in 2010. With inflation and the other three phases of Croke Park included it probably worked out cheaper.

Dirty Dingus McGee

hardybuck wrote: »

Croke Park was completed in 2004. The 2004 project cost €260m I should add.

Aviva project started in 2007 and completed in 2010. With inflation and the other three phases of Croke Park included it probably worked out cheaper.

I'll be honest and say I don't remember the prices going up by almost 58% between those years and according to the CPI inflation between 2004 and 2010 adds up to 12.08%.

http://www.inflation.eu/inflation-rates/ireland/historic-inflation/cpi-inflation-ireland.aspx

STB

munchkin_utd wrote: »

and Landsdowne road was funded far more generously than that directly from the taxpayer, and FAI has certain games only on Sky and the Rabo cup games for IRFU teams is also just gone sky only.

so whats your point exactly?

The point is that gaelic games are the national sport.

The GAA have sold out to Sky all of TV3 games that would have been availble free to air on the island.

iseegirls

KevIRL wrote: »

Also they will do a damn sight better than TV3 with their production and analysis

Well, the way Sky made such a great mess with Sky News Ireland, so I won't be holding out much for this anyway.

Flukey

KevIRL wrote: »

Some of the outcry and rage over the Sky-GAA thing is quite laughable. They arent selling the rights to all championship games, its 14 games during the championship.

Reduce that by 14 and then do a deal where they let Sky double the resulting amount every year. Maybe Sky could pay 10 or 20 million Euro as a flat annual fee and an extra million for every game they show. That would be a good deal.

irishfeen

At least we might have stuff like this to look forward to

Redsoxfan

KevIRL wrote: »

Some of the outcry and rage over the Sky-GAA thing is quite laughable. They arent selling the rights to all championship games, its 14 games during the championship. It wont be the main games or anything like it, going by the package TV3 got last year they will be low priority games. Also they will do a damn sight better than TV3 with their production and analysis

Main games? Low priority games? TV3 had the rights to several provincial finals. 14 games is very nearly a quarter of all televised Championship games. The quality of analysis is a matter of opinion and is a moot point at this stage as we don't know who Sky will use (who is the GAA equivalent of Jamie Redknapp?). I'm certainly not outraged over this, but I believe it's worthy of debate as to whether it is truly a good thing.

Anyway the main thing that GAA fans should be giving out about re TV coverage is the continued idiocy of the organisation in insisting on only showing 1 qualifer game per round (1 between both codes) live on TV. These are the knock out games when everything is on the line and they will only permit one to be shown while earlier in the summer a whole pile of comparatively meaningless early provincial rounds are shown.

When will they get the message that the more games on TV the better.

I completely agree.

STB

KevIRL wrote: »

Some of the outcry and rage over the Sky-GAA thing is quite laughable. They arent selling the rights to all championship games, its 14 games during the championship. It wont be the main games or anything like it, going by the package TV3 got last year they will be low priority games. Also they will do a damn sight better than TV3 with their production and analysis

Anyway the main thing that GAA fans should be giving out about re TV coverage is the continued idiocy of the organisation in insisting on only showing 1 qualifer game per round (1 between both codes) live on TV. These are the knock out games when everything is on the line and they will only permit one to be shown while earlier in the summer a whole pile of comparatively meaningless early provincial rounds are shown.

When will they get the message that the more games on TV the better.

Laughable ?

I do not find it laughable that the pinnacle of the Irish national game ie the Championship, traditionally shown on terrestrial TV has been sold to a foreign pay only subscription TV company who dont even pay tax in the feckin country. 14 championship games.

Whatever about league games, but the chamionship. Cmon.

GAA. Pure Greed. How much of this is going to the players ?

When Sky get their foot in the door thats it. They are only interested in this to incraese their subscription base, end game get as near exclusivity as possible. This also says a lot about TV3. Sky may start starts at 14. The only games that are protected are the Finals.

Trust me this will not end well.

irishfeen

I wonder if this turns out to be true will RTÉ remain the host broadcaster for all matches across the country, maybe it will be shared between RTÉ & Sky. Sky will obviously want the 50 odd games all in HD for their British (and Irish) viewers.

Redsoxfan

irishfeen wrote: »

I wonder if this turns out to be true will RTÉ remain the host broadcaster for all matches across the country, maybe it will be shared between RTÉ & Sky. Sky will obviously want the 50 odd games all in HD for their British (and Irish) viewers.

I doubt that Sean Moran's article is too far from the truth. It contains enough specifics and numbers to suggest he has information from a reliable source, i.e. it's not the usual sort of idle speculation without details. The fact that is being printed so close to the announcement would also suggest it's more than likely a fair reflection of what will actually be announced.

irishfeen

Redsoxfan wrote: »

I doubt that Sean Moran's article is too far from the truth. It contains enough specifics and numbers to suggest he has information from a reliable source, i.e. it's not the usual sort of idle speculation without details. The fact that is being printed so close to the announcement would also suggest it's more than likely a fair reflection of what will actually be announced.

Aye but he doesn't seem to have any details on maybe them sharing host broadcasting duties with the shared non exclusive rights and the likes but I suppose all these will become apparent if/when it happens.

STB

irishfeen wrote: »

I wonder if this turns out to be true will RTÉ remain the host broadcaster for all matches across the country, maybe it will be shared between RTÉ & Sky. Sky will obviously want the 50 odd games all in HD for their British (and Irish) viewers.

It is true. TV3 did not renew the rights they had for whatever reason. They were either outbid, or didnt bother repitching for the next period. The "Sharing" is not simulcasts. RTE will show certain games on certain weekends. Sky will show 14 of the others.

Either way, Sky are firmly in the picture now and are now prowling for what Irish viewers and GAA fans would have thought was untouchable.

There will be a right kick up about this, expecially when the various people from the respective affected counties learn that they have to subscribe to a pay TV company to see their county playing for what was traditionally free. A lot of GAA fans cannot afford to go to every game or cannnot for whatever reason.

Grants to the GAA to promote the sport etc have been wisely spent, havent they! They sell it to somewhere were less Irish people will see it and only to those that can afford to pay to see it. What was it that founder of the GAA said on the day of the foundation of the GAA ? Something about the absurdity of Irishmen permitting Englishmen to organise Irish sport ?

channelsurfer2

says it all really. GAA sells out to the highest bidder. Expect the politicians to whinge but the real trouble will come when the county chairmen try to justify it saying it will help them and all that.Sky dont care about the game. Let noone think otherwise. Its to stop UPC and sell more subscriptions in the Summer and the GAA will say well you will still see the majority of games on RTE etc. It will only really come home to roost when the leinster football final and both munster hurling semi finals are live only on Sky if they are taking the TV3 picks. that will be the outrage.

chinguetti

I would think that the GAA planned the story and gave it to Moran (it was in the Indo the day before), we have a few days of 'the end of the world' stories and then the package is revealed.

Sky get some matches but no finals of anything and there is something in the deal that shows that the GAA were aiming this at people abroad.

All TV3 showed was 10 matches and rakes of ads so that package will now go to Sky

Dirty Dingus McGee

STB wrote: »

It is true. TV3 did not renew the rights they had for whatever reason. They were either outbid, or didnt bother repitching for the next period. The "Sharing" is not simulcasts. RTE will show certain games on certain weekends. Sky will show 14 of the others.

Either way, Sky are firmly in the picture now and are now prowling for what Irish viewers and GAA fans would have thought was untouchable.

There will be a right kick up about this, expecially when the various people from the respective affected counties learn that they have to subscribe to a pay TV company to see their county playing for what was traditionally free. A lot of GAA fans cannot afford to go to every game or cannnot for whatever reason.

Grants to the GAA to promote the sport etc have been wisely spent, havent they! They sell it to somewhere were less Irish people will see it and only to those that can afford to pay to see it. What was it that founder of the GAA said on the day of the foundation of the GAA ? Something about the absurdity of Irishmen permitting Englishmen to organise Irish sport ?

If people can't afford to go to a championship match then in all honesty these people probably don't care enough (or they are extremely poor in that case they have my sympathy).Most county's will probably play 2 or 3 championship matches a year and they aren't all that expensive to attend.

Dirty Dingus McGee

For people who are whinging about the GAA being loaded and supposedly stockpiling money the link below is a breakdown of expenditure by Munster GAA which basically shows that almost every penny the Munster council generates is spent on the development of the games and is therefore money well spent.The GAA are nowhere near as financially well off an association as some people would lead you to believe.Countless clubs and county boards are in deficit if the GAA was loaded surely this wouldn't be the case.

http://munster.gaa.ie/2014/03/12/munster-gaa-%E2%80%93-where-does-the-money-go/

STB

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

If people can't afford to go to a championship match then in all honesty these people probably don't care enough (or they are extremely poor in that case they have my sympathy).Most county's will probably play 2 or 3 championship matches a year and they aren't all that expensive to attend.

Prepare for the wrath of gaa fans around the country.

I am a Dub, I played club football for many years, I have went to many league games and nearly all chamionship games for years whilst I lived in Dublin). I also lived in close proximity to both Parnell & Croke Park, which was handy. I do not live in Dublin now and whilst I still attend some games just not as many before, due to travel time and arrangements as well as the additional costs to go to a game.

Does this make me less of a fan ? Does that lessen my arguement. My expectations should be that it is okay that the GAA can sell those viewing rights to a subscription only TV platform some of which may affect some of my counties games and its all my fault ? And by the way I enjoy watching all GAA championship games irrespective of who is playing. You should also bear in mind that there are people that are unable to travel and those who have a passing interest in our national game. Making 14 of them pay only is not in the interests of the game nor its promotion.

These are the games 10 (previously held by TV3) of the purported 14 games that Sky have pitched for.

5/6/2011 Dublin v Laois LSFC Q/F
19/6/2011 Tipperary v Clare MSHC S/F
3/7/2011 Leinster Hurling Final LSHC
9/7/2011 Round 2 Football Qualifier AIFC R2
17/7/2011 Connacht Football Final CSFC
17/7/2011 Ulster Football Final USFC
23/7/2011 Round 4 Football Qualifiers AISFC TBC AI Quarter Final QF TBC AI Quarter Final QF
4/9/2011 Minor Hurling Final MHC
18/9/2011 Minor Football Final MFC

nxbyveromdwjpg

They're bringing the GAA to much, much, wider audience. Great move, good stuff

Dirty Dingus McGee

STB wrote: »

Prepare for the wrath of gaa fans around the country.

I am a Dub, I played gaelic football for many years, I have went to many (if not all chamionship games for year whilst I lived in Dublin). i also lived in close proximity to both Parnell & Croke Park, which was handy. I do not live in Dublin now and whilst I still attend some games just not as many before, due to travel time, arrangement and the additional costs to go to a game.

Does this make me less of a fan ? Does that lessen my arguement. My expectations should be GAA will have to sell the viewing rights to our national game and its championship and that may affect my counties games and its all my fault ? And by the way I enjoy watching all GAA championship games irrespective of who is playing.

I can understand people not being able to go to every league match but when most counties only play a couple of championship matches each year it is not a huge ordeal or expense to go to championship matches.If you really want to do something you have to sacrifice something unless as I said above the people are struggling for money.My words above were probably a little harsh but every year I hear constant complaints about the costs of going to matches yet these same people will have no problem shelling out for other forms of entertainment drink,cinema,dvd's etc. and in my opinion GAA championship matches are pretty good value for money.

nxbyveromdwjpg

STB wrote: »

TV company who dont even pay tax in the feckin country.

They do pay tax here, and employ 800 - 1000 people in their Dublin office.

The Cush

nm wrote: »

They do pay tax here, and employ 800 - 1000 people in their Dublin office.

STB was probably referring to VAT on subscriptions, but that changes next year - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057175705