Free To Air.

BonnieSituation

Xenophile wrote: »

I agree. The amateur ethos of the GAA is slipping away and a halt needs to be put to this slide in the most dramatic fashion! Take the GAA out of the hands of "suits", and give it back to the ordinary people of Ireland!.

What are you spouting about?
The ordinary people of Ireland?
Next we'll be back at the bloody crossroads with the comely maidens.

I see absolutely not a shred of evidence of the amateur ethos " slipping".

If you do, I'm sure you'd prefer intercounty players to not train as much, be less prepared and play less games... You know like the old days. When high fielding was king and the man up the mountain could go for a jar and drove home afterwards.

The people who go to games will still go to games and those who don't won't. The only people who are really missing out are those who barstool on rte and tbh I couldn't give a f*** about them. Same people that come out of the woodwork in late August and ask for directions on summerhill to Croker.

Nichard Dixon wrote: »

This isn't only about live games. More games, or more complete sections of games could be shown during the week. One thing Setanta did do was repeat the weekend games later in the week. With Saorview RTÉ has plenty of capacity with RTÉ+1, RTÉ jr etc and some of this could be use for more coverage, even if not live.

GAAGO is good, but they show no club games at this time of year, although the coverage is available from TG4. SO TG4 is restricted and have geoblocked their service but GAAGO doesn't even allow you pay for it. There should be deals for members to watch these less popular games at a reasonable charge.

So you want some sort of subscription model? Certainly a novel approach.

Xenophile

BonnieSituation wrote: »

What are you spouting about?
The ordinary people of Ireland?
Next we'll be back at the bloody crossroads with the comedy maidens.

I see absolutely not a shred of evidence of the amateur ethos " slipping".

If you do, I'm sure you'd prefer intercounty players to not train as much, be less prepared and play less games... You know like the old days. When high fielding was king and the man up the mountain could go for a jar and drove home afterwards.

The people who go to games will still go to games and those who don't won't. The only people who are really missing out are those who barstool on rte and tbh I couldn't give a f*** about them. Same people that come out of the woodwork in late August and ask for directions on summerhill to Croker.




So you want some sort of subscription model? Certainly a novel approach.

You nearly have it right, it is "comely maidens"

topmanamillion

At the end of the day it all boils down to money.
If sky are offering more money than the terrestrial channels here then they will continue to show games.

Sky's motives were purely to increase subs here.

It was a nonsense argument that sky would be catering to the diaspora or any of the other ****e talk that went on when they started showing games. If that was the reason then surely tell RTE/TV3 not to geo block their live streams. It was all about the money.

The other argument that it would increase interest abroad was nonsense as well. They are our national games but we are never going to get to a stage where it's matching soccer/cricket/rugby and that's alright, it just makes it more special.
There was a bit of curiosity on twitter in hurling from British viewers who had never seen the game before but their reaction to football was lukewarm at best.

BonnieSituation

Xenophile wrote: »

You nearly have it right, it is "comely maidens"

Wow. That's your response? A correction of a very obvious autocorrect on my phone. Impressive. I'm sure you felt great after "showing" me.

But I still don't understand the issue you have with the Sky deal is. Everything you said basically boils down to "I want to watch more games for free".

You started this thread. I would like to think you had something a bit more informed and relevant and in fact new (outside of some CB wanting it changed) that could be discussed as opposed to the same drivel that has been spouted on and on in various threads on this forum since it was announced in 2014.

topmanamillion wrote: »

At the end of the day it all boils down to money.
If sky are offering more money than the terrestrial channels here then they will continue to show games.

Sky's motives were purely to increase subs here.

If Sky are WILLING to pay more than terrestrial broadcasters then they'll win the rights to show games.

It was a nonsense argument that sky would be catering to the diaspora or any of the other ****e talk that went on when they started showing games. If that was the reason then surely tell RTE/TV3 not to geo block their live streams. It was all about the money.

It has catered for the diaspora. That it wasn't the primary motive diesn't matter.

GAAGo is there for those who wish to view GAA abroad as it stands.

RTÉ and TV3 are geoblocked for licencing reasons. You hardly think they would limit their own potential audience for the craic now would you?

Premier Sports had GAA rights in UK (AFAIA, Open to correction) before th Sky deal.

The other argument that it would increase interest abroad was nonsense as well. They are our national games but we are never going to get to a stage where it's matching soccer/cricket/rugby and that's alright, it just makes it more special.
There was a bit of curiosity on twitter in hurling from British viewers who had never seen the game before but their reaction to football was lukewarm at best.

But it did pique interest. Every tweet and every person who tuned in was interested. Every comment from a person in Britain was one more than would have been made before Sky had the deal.

BPKS

Duiske wrote: »

Because this motion is about championship games.

Incorrect.

Motion states that "all televised games be available on free to air TV".

iDave

Interesting article on the general TV rights situation.

There is another year remaining on the majority of the GAA’s media rights packages but the countdown to the next set of agreements, shaping up to be the most lucrative yet, has already begun.


The votes in recent weeks by Clare, Dublin and Kerry to back motions calling for all championship games to be made free-to-air indicates unrest about pay-per-view games is not going away. In fact, it’s intensifying. All three are likely to be ruled out of order for Congress as they don’t require a rule change but there’s only so much the GAA hierarchy can ignore before they realise they must address the fact that many of their members have been discommoded.

Two seasons in, Sky Sports are known to be satisfied with their slice of the cake. With more Saturday championship matches than ever before next summer, their portion is likely to be richer but are the GAA as certain as they were about the promotional virtues of the deal when the viewing figures in the UK have been so low?

Sky’s rivals will come to the negotiations table wiser and wealthier than before. RTÉ will have more change in their pocket having lost the Six Nations to TV3 from 2018 and may hope to silence their critics who highlight the fact that they show no live GAA from October to April. TG4, as consistently brilliant as they have been for the GAA, will come under unprecedented pressure to retain their rights to the league.

TV3 are believed to be interested in both championship and league packages having come away empty-handed last year even if TV3 head of sport Niall Cogley’s “GAA’s preference for a pay television strategy” remark last year was viewed dimly in Croke Park. On the other hand, in those same corridors RTÉ are still not flavour of the month following Prime Time’s treatment of the Sky Sports deal.

Setanta Sports’ long-standing Saturday evening league agreement is interesting from the point of view that they have been taken over by Eir, associate sponsors of the All-Ireland senior football championship. That synergy is sure to make them more formidable but like Sky Sports they may have to settle with what they have if the rate of pay-per-view disaffection among the grassroots is to be believed.

Eir’s takeover represents a further shift in their business model from mobile telecommunications to TV. Live TV too. Apart from soaps, the only true communal TV experience now is live sport and news. They seem to be the only entities for which viewers nowadays are prepared to sit through ad breaks. Little else engages people in a synchronised fashion as sport. Consequently, little else provides as potentially captivating a market as sport.

Increment by increment, the GAA appear to be realising the true worth of their product. Before the last round of media rights, they let it be known they had undervalued it in the past so much so that on one occasion one deal was sold onto a third party. It seemed they had learned their lesson but again they are announcing they still haven’t got it quite right just yet.

“The small fish that we are, when you look at the recent deal made for Premier League rights, the average per game for the next contract is £11 million,” said GAA director general Páraic Duffy at Congress back in February.

“That is roughly equivalent to what we are bringing in, in terms of TV rights. I actually believe we are probably not getting full value for our TV rights and that is something we have to work on.”

The amount of competition angling for 2017-2020 contracts means there should be problem there. However, it may just be that they will have to pay more for less. Also in Cavan earlier this year, Duffy suggested there will be fewer matches shown live on TV than the 100 that are shown presently. “Do we actually want to show so many games on TV as we do?” he asked delegates. “Our championship attendances now, and we have done well over the past three years, are less than they were 10 years ago, significantly less. You have to ask the question: is the fact we broadcast so many live games each year impacting on our attendances. And what about the impact it has on our club games?”

Offering an update on the GAA’s policy earlier this month, GAA president Aogán Ó Fearghail said the balance in the number of live matches at the moment is “fairly right”. However, on the basis of the discord in counties there isn’t as much equilibrium between the GAA people get for their licence fee and the GAA they have to shell out to watch. If bringing Sky Sports into the stable was an indirect means of increasing attendances by compelling those without subscriptions to go to games at the same time promoting the games in the UK and earning a few million euro, it hasn’t really worked.

More money for less games is shaping up to be the theme of the next round of media rights but can the GAA run the risk of being seen to short-change their members a second time in three years

http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/columnists/john-fogarty/john-fogarty-countdown-to-the-gaas-next-tv-rights-deal-has-already-started-372777.html

adrian522

Somebody really needs to sit these journalists down and explain what pay per view means.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Do any of these people in the GAA consider that the reason attendances are less than 10 years ago is because both championships are nowhere near as competitive as they were 10 years ago.It certainly has a much bigger part to play than matches being on TV.

The more games on TV the better as far as I'm concerned.

Xenophile

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

The more games on TV the better as far as I'm concerned.

I say so too, let them all be free to air!

BonnieSituation

Xenophile wrote: »

I say so too, let them all be free to air!

Great idea. Now what will the GAA do with the shortfall in income?

Send buckets around to members?

Xenophile

BonnieSituation wrote: »

Great idea. Now what will the GAA do with the shortfall in income?

Send buckets around to members?

No!

For a start let's have more transparency about how money is spent!

Let every club with a web site and that's nearly all of them, put their annual financial statement on their web site.

Of course this goes for County Boards etc.

We are the GAA not the IFA.

micks

Xenophile wrote: »

No!

For a start let's have more transparency about how money is spent!

Let every club with a web site and that's nearly all of them, put their annual financial statement on their web site.

Of course this goes for County Boards etc.

We are the GAA not the IFA.

careful that might speed up the slipping away of the GAA's amateur ethos

BonnieSituation

Xenophile wrote: »

No!

For a start let's have more transparency about how money is spent!

Let every club with a web site and that's nearly all of them, put their annual financial statement on their web site.

Of course this goes for County Boards etc.

We are the GAA not the IFA.

Changing the goalposts much? We're now onto transparency of accounts of all GAA clubs? Christ alive.

The GAA publish accounts annually. That documents what you need to know. Any further investigation you're more than welcome to take on. I await with bated breath.

Realt Dearg Sec

Xenophile wrote: »

No!

For a start let's have more transparency about how money is spent!

Let every club with a web site and that's nearly all of them, put their annual financial statement on their web site.

Of course this goes for County Boards etc.

We are the GAA not the IFA.

And how would that make up a shortfall in income for the association at a national level?

(Fyi all club financial statements are available by rule to club members, it's not a big secret)

Fr Tod Umptious

BonnieSituation wrote: »

Great idea. Now what will the GAA do with the shortfall in income?

Send buckets around to members?

It's well known that the amount paid by Sky was only slightly more than had been paid by TV3 previously so the shortfall would not be a huge factor.

Whether the bids will be as close for the next your will be interesting.

adrian522

So the guy who wants to watch every championship match for free from the comfort of his sofa is now demanding complete transparency. Maybe if you go to a game every now and then there wouldn't be such a shortfall.

Xenophile

adrian522 wrote: »

So the guy who wants to watch every championship match for free from the comfort of his sofa is now demanding complete transparency. Maybe if you go to a game every now and then there wouldn't be such a shortfall.

As you have chosen to personalise, the thread, your comments do not merit a reply!

Atlantic Dawn

With the alcohol ban coming on pitchside advertising they will need all the extra money they can get.

adrian522

Some people just want something for nothing all the time.

Fr Tod Umptious

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

With the alcohol ban coming on pitchside advertising they will need all the extra money they can get.

When was the last time you saw any advertising of alcohol at national level in the GAA, pich side or otherwise ?

Green_Tae

The Sky sports deal is simply indefensible. You can't take all the dedication and sacrifice that volunteers put into an amatuer association and then hand it over to a private business venture. I don't care about how commercially successful that venture has been - it is simply unjust and unprincipled.

Realt Dearg Sec

Green Tae wrote: »

The Sky sports deal is simply indefensible. You can't take all the dedication and sacrifice that volunteers put into an amatuer association and then hand it over to a private business venture. I don't care about how commercially successful that venture has been - it is simply unjust and unprincipled.

So presumably you felt the same about the tv3 deal?

adrian522

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

So presumably you felt the same about the tv3 deal?

Or RTE for that matter. Or paying into games.

ProudDUB

Green Tae wrote: »

The Sky sports deal is simply indefensible. You can't take all the dedication and sacrifice that volunteers put into an amatuer association and then hand it over to a private business venture. I don't care about how commercially successful that venture has been - it is simply unjust and unprincipled.

Let's not over exaggerate here. Even with Sky on board, RTE still broadcast about 90% of championship games on free to air TV. Whatever peoples opinions are on SKY having the other 10%, lets not over do the hyperbole. They haven't been given "all" of anything.

Xenophile

ProudDUB wrote: »

Whatever peoples opinions are on SKY having the other 10%, lets not over do the hyperbole. They haven't been given "all" of anything.

If and when € signs begin to appear in Sky's eyes, that's when they will go in for the" kill "demanding a lot more of the action"!

Fr Tod Umptious

Xenophile wrote: »

If and when € signs begin to appear in Sky's eyes, that's when they will go in for the" kill "demanding a lot more of the action"!

That all depends on what the figures look like for them.

If they see that this is increasing subs, and holding on to ones that usually cancel for the summer, then they will be interested in bidding again, if not they won't.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Xenophile wrote: »

If and when € signs begin to appear in Sky's eyes, that's when they will go in for the" kill "demanding a lot more of the action"!

And then the GAA can tell them to **** off if they want.Sky can't demand anything regarding the broadcast rights of any sport.

The GAA don't have to sell to any company they have (or at least should have) complete freedom over who they sell broadcast rights to.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

When was the last time you saw any advertising of alcohol at national level in the GAA, pich side or otherwise ?

Lots of pubs sponsor club teams and I've seen advertising for pubs at county and club grounds as well.

If there is a ban on alcohol advertising there should be a ban on pubs sponsoring team to have one without the other is highly hypocritical.

Although as far as I'm concerned there should be no ban on any type of advertising as long as the product is legal.