GAAGO Media, RTE/GAA joint venture company

The Cush

Sunday Business Post reporting today that RTE and the GAA are to create a jv company GAA Media which commits both long-term to online streaming for gaelic games.

A quote from an RTE statement said "GAA and RTE commercial enterprises have made a joint submission to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission to create a joint venture company, GAA Media, to better meet emerging opportunities for the GAAGO service into the future"

https://www.ccpc.ie/business/mergers-acquisitions/merger-notifications/m17034-gaago-media-jvrte-gaa/

Not sure if this is related, RTE published the following tender in early June. Might also be related to Saorview Connect, RTE's planned OTT service which will likely include STB access to the GAAGO IPTV channel.

Short description
17P027 - Customer Identity Management Services or Systems

Detailed description
RTÉ are seeking companies who can deliver a Customer Identity Management Services or Systems so RTE customers can register and sign in to RTE products and service for various benefits

https://irl.eu-supply.com/app/rfq/publicpurchase_frameset.asp?PID=113582&B=ETENDERS_SIMPLE&PS=1&PP=ctm/Supplier/publictenders

icdg

I wouldn't see GAAGO ever being made available here. More money for the GAA in selling the rights, and there would be war if they decided to move to a 100% subscription model.

The second item is more likely to relate to RTE Player and the RTE website to be honest, I don't think the two are in any way connected.

The Cush

icdg wrote: »

The second item is more likely to relate to RTE Player and the RTE website to be honest, I don't think the two are in any way connected.

Yes, that appears to be correct, no direct mention of GAAGO in the tender. Although it wouldn't surprise if there wasn't some crossover when it comes to customer identity management, over 40,000 customers to the service since 2014.

RTE are seeking companies who can deliver a Customer Identity Management Services or Systems so RTE customers can register and sign in to RTE products and service for various benefits.

1. Overall Objective

RTE is seeking expressions of interest for a customer identity management service or system.

As part of our CX strategy, RTE will focus on providing customers with personalised content, recommendations, and tailored communications. To deliver on these benefits we require a customer identity management service to enable our customers to register and sign-in to RTE products and services.
The overall objective is to have a single view of the customer across all data sources across all systems and platforms. The customer identity management service or system should centrally manage our customer's identity though a single sign-on solution (SSO). The customer's experience of identity management service is through registration and sign-in and any services available through the set up and maintenance of SSO (e.g. password management, email verification).We need a customer identity management service or system that is a robust and scalable and be used seamlessly across RTE Services including RTE New Now app, RTE Player, websites, RTE shop, web analytics, CMS and marketing automation.

2. Business Objective

To build customer relationships by:
- Identify customers ("known" and "unknown" customer) in the RTE ecosystem and outside RTE ecosystem e.g. social media.
- Connect with potential customers (moving customers from "unknown" to "known" status through this Customer identity service.
- Collect customer data on an ongoing basis from native and social channels;
- Provide customers with relevant experiences across channels;
- Convert customers into active, engaged customers across web, mobile and apps.


At a minimum, RTE requires a customer management service or system that will deliver on;
- Customer Registration and Sign-in
- A Single Sign-On (SSO) service across multiple devices and RTE Services.
- Social registration and sign-in
- Technical & customer support to solve customer registration and sign-in queries.
- Integration with our web analytics and CMS.

GAAGO is a separate entity within RTE, with separate website, customer management, payment processor, Stripe, and streaming partner, StreamAMG/Stream UK, both since 2014.

The current contract to manage GAAGO streaming services was published this time last year for 2017/18/19 and was reawarded to Stream UK
https://irl.eu-supply.com/app/rfq/publicpurchase_frameset.asp?PID=99783&B=ETENDERS_SIMPLE&PS=1&PP=ctm/Supplier/PublicTenders
https://irl.eu-supply.com/ctm/Supplier/PublicTenders/ViewNotice/181683
https://irl.eu-supply.com/ctm/Supplier/PublicTenders/ViewNotice/190250

The original tender was published back in late 2013 and was rather vague at the time
https://irl.eu-supply.com/app/rfq/publicpurchase_frameset.asp?PID=72287&B=ETENDERS_SIMPLE&PS=1&PP=ctm/Supplier/PublicTenders

Elmo

Great to see them not using an Irish company for streaming.

IMO CPCC should have asked/insisted that other non-GAA sports also be carried on the service.

It will be interesting to see if they go beyond GAA sports.

BandMember

Because of the absolute useless mess that is the RTÉ Player, RTÉ should not be allowed anywhere near this!!

However, the idea itself is a definite thumbs up in my view.

The Cush

https://www.ccpc.ie/business/mergers-acquisitions/merger-notifications/m17034-gaago-media-jvrte-gaa/

On 18 July 2017, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission cleared the proposed establishment of a full-function joint venture between RTÉ Commercial Enterprises Designated Activity Company and the Gaelic Athletic Association, to be known as GAAGO Media. The proposed transaction was notified under the Competition Act 2002, as amended, on 9 June 2017.

The Commission has formed the view that the proposed transaction will not substantially lessen competition in any market for goods or services in the State. The Commission will publish the reasons for its determination on its website no later than 60 working days after the date of the determination and after allowing the parties the opportunity to request that confidential information be removed from the published version.

STB.

I think for RTE this is a case of damned if you do, damned if you dont.

They cannot afford to compete with Sky for the 14 other exclusive games that the GAA simply handed over to Sky before Christmas for an unprecedented 5 years prior to the ending of the initial 3 year contract they had entered in 2014.

On the other hand the GAA organisation itself has been very quiet in its justification of continuing with the Sky deal, despite the fact that it has been an unmitigated PR disaster for the organisation.

It will be used as a look over here alternative when the detractors come at the GAA again, having forced through a scenario that attempts to make PPV as something thats here to stay, regardless of location.

Intersetingly I note that the Competition Authority had to look at the arrangement and have come to the conclusion that the arrangement will not substantially lessen competition. Of even more interest is that the document discusses "international" rights that this box will apparently cater to.

All very interesting but the anti geo blocking EU legislation is due to be implemented in early 2018 which I suspect will make futile any moves to lock the box/streams down. I wonder how Sky will feel about that!

icdg

The abolition of geoblocking is not happening, at least not in the way we would expect it to. What I currently understand is the proposal is to allow persons travelling abroad to access their "home" content abroad. So an Irish person traveling to France on holiday could access RTE player but a resident of France could not. Not sure how that would work on a tech level and nor does the Commission, I wager.

At any rate in the hypothetical scenario where geoblocking were abandoned the solution for the GAA is actually very simple (compared to nearly any other sport). The Irish market is the only one where the rights are worth any amount of money, so that the Irish rights holders get worldwide broadcast rights in future sales.

The Cush

CCPC publishes GAAGO Media -JV RTE & GAA - Determination

https://www.ccpc.ie/business/mergers-acquisitions/merger-notifications/m17034-gaago-media-jvrte-gaa/

The Cush

From today's Indo - https://www.independent.ie/business/media/naughten-seeks-advice-on-rtes-gaa-venture-36332183.html

Naughten seeks advice on RTE's GAA venture

Minister for Communications Denis Naughten has sought advice from the broadcasting regulator over a plan by RTE to form a joint venture with the GAA for the online streaming of Gaelic games.

...

The board of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) considered the issue at its monthly meeting last Friday.

Naughten is seeking advice from the BAI under the 2009 Broadcasting Act which requires the consent of the minister for RTE to "promote or take part in the formation or establishment of a company, and enter into joint ventures or partnerships".

munchkin_utd

I was looking up something else and was intrigued to see what happened in the end. Aparantly, the BAI were happy. From their 2017 Annual report (published in June 2018)

New Services - PSBs Pursuant to Section 104 of the Act, PSBs require the consent of the Minister for Communication, Climate Action and Environment for the launch of new services. In that regard the Authority considered a report prepared by Communications Chambers consultants assessing a proposal made by RTÉ to create a commercial joint venture (GAAGO), between RTÉ Commercial Enterprises Designated Activity Company (a wholly-owned subsidiary of RTÉ) and the GAA. The Authority was satisfied that there were no compelling reasons for withholding consent for the formation of the joint venture and this advice was communicated to the Minister

https://www.bai.ie/en/media/sites/2/dlm_uploads/2018/11/20181011_BAI_AR_2017_English_vFinal_SH.pdf