GAA Go

If it's a scheduling issue, then what are the reasons that RTE can't shift all the games onto a dedicated sports channel?

They already show football, hurling, soccer, rugby, horse racing, athletics and more. As others mentioned, they showed World Cup matches on their news channel. They could add in (and/or absorb from TG4) some extra GAA games like the clubs, u21s, college games etc during the Winter months. They could fill out a lovely weekend schedule there and not have to worry about clashing with the Late Late Show, Home & Away or the Saturday night movie every other weekend.

I've read previously that RTE only show the bare minimum League of Ireland games on purpose, as they can't be bothered with the hassle and prefer to show the rugby on Friday nights instead as it's more popular. They don't help the national league at all. The LOI is as popular as it's ever been with higher gate numbers now with some good games. I'd like to see more games on TV, with Virgin Media now coming in to show more as RTE don't show enough. Do they not want to bother with the GAA now aswell? They already have cameras at the games to record as it is.

All these top inter-county games could be shown on this channel. Maybe show your big clashes on your RTE 1 on a Sunday at 12:00 (eg Clare v Limerick) and still also have the alternative game (eg Waterford vs Cork) on the subscription channel if you really want to keep some games FTA. No harm in a bit of choice. Give the viewer a viable choice. The cameras are already rolling afterall. Show a classic game from the archives on a Sunday night if you need to flesh out the schedule.

Would this RTE sports channel cost extra to the TV licence? If it was ~€5 a month, I wouldn't mind having to pay for it, with such a depth of sporting action - the majority of it Irish. Unlocking a channel the same way you have to unlock Sky Sports on any TV package deal. But the key thing is that is live onto your TV box, be it Sky, VM or Saorview, with no messing around with broadband, laptops, cables or having to bring in the grandson to set it up for you. Every person with a TV has the access to it and doesn't rely on broadband etc. You are not 3 minutes behind live action, no buffering and no turning off GAA GO in a pub to listen on the radio as the coverage is so bad when streaming in rural areas.

I'm actually glad to hear some counter points to my fool-proof plan of having a dedicated RTE Sports channel! 😀

I don't see a problem with only having the 10 hours 'live' time per day or whatever is needed. Alternatively, RTE has an archive hidden away that is rarely used. Show the 1987 football final or the 2013 hurling final etc. TG4 have a brilliant Laochra Gael programmes that deserves more viewers and has the added benefit of showing some programs in Irish. Stick on the Stephen Roche Tour de France win. Is Wimbledon still covered live in depth here? You'd be surprised at just how much sport RTE (or TG4) currently shows live when you write it all down.

The Sunday game could have a proper highlights show - one for Hurling, one for Football, not squashing them all into the one show. Keep your Monday night Rugby highlights etc. Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday already have soccer shown live in Ireland although RTE only have the rights to one of those nights with Virgin Media having the other two. They used to have a lot more matches on VM, on dedicated sports channels that were only live during matches. Friday nights can have League or Ireland and/or Rugby matches shown live and the weekend takes care of itself again.

Maybe just keep the Provisional finals / All Ireland SF & Final on both FTA TV & RTE Sport (similar to the arrangement with Sky) and the rest can be on the dedicated Sport channel? Sports fans usually are willing to pay to watch sport. €5 a month is not bad. There would be an increase in advertising revenue too.

I think a big problem with the GAA GO is the reliability and value for money compared to other platforms. €12 for one GAA match v €12 for a full day of sport, covering multiple sports etc.

Much of what you say about your hypothetical new channel has been done in the past by TG4. Some days it is wall to wall coverage two matches and a deferred one during the league for example. Plus TG4 do great coverage of the club championship.

I would say it comes down to cost for RTE - can you imagine the moaning if the licence fee went up to fund it from non sports fans?

I know a lot of counties might not have the demand to do another alternative but groups could band together. Dublin GAA on youtube does great coverage of Dublin club matches/hurling and football if TG4/RTE don't get it.

I don't know why other counties don't do the same. Not sure it would work fully at intercounty level as there are probably rights issues. But these days all a person needs is a camera and upload their own reports. There does not seem to be much/any of that type of thing on youtube from a youtube perspective by GAA fans at all.

Would it be false if 20/30 years ago games at the same stage of the munster championship weren't available on TV at all?

How is the games "quality" determined?

Number 8 is a cop out and they're looking for time to sweep things under the carpet and go again, or just bin the idea. They shouldn't be let away with this. There should be an independent inquiry by an independent, overseas body hired by the government. This is too serious.

On Tuesday May 9th, VMTV (Virgin Media Television) issued a statement that called into question the integrity of the GAA Media Rights process.

The statement contained several factual errors and misleading comments.

The GAA contacted VMTV and requested that they correct their statement. Since this has not been forthcoming, the GAA, reluctantly, issues the following to correct the record.

Strategically, the GAA media rights are designed to:

a) Maximise coverage. We bias toward ‘Free To Air’.

b) Support the Irish language. We bias toward TG4.

c) Generate a fair commercial value for our rights. We seek to keep commercial tension to the fore by seeking an agile, competent third party.

1. From as early as February 2021, the GAA contacted VMTV and other parties to gauge their interest in acquiring rights packages that would become available in the renewal of the GAA media rights in 2022. The initial call was followed up by a detailed description of the various packages available.

2. Thereafter followed several meetings, telephone calls, emails and document exchanges between the parties.

3. The GAA did not receive a formal bid from VMTV or an expression of interest.

4. In June 2022, VMTV were again contacted to clarify that they did not intend to make a bid. VMTV were clear that their model was not to acquire rights but rather to acquire ‘ready to go’ packages ie productions which don’t require outside broadcast set-ups for live match coverage.

5. In short, VMTV were afforded every opportunity to discuss options, variations to packages and to submit a confidential offer. VMTV choose not to bid.

6. GAA continued discussions with other parties.

7. Specifically in respect of one party, the GAA was unable to deliver Sky’s preferred selection as strategically we wanted greater free to air coverage for our National League Package. These rights subsequently went to TG4 and RTÉ. Whilst Sky did bid for a lesser package, the GAA decided to progress with GAAGO.

This was because GAAGO could facilitate greater flexibility on match schedules, provide coverage for an additional 24 games and offer the opportunity for more flexible pricing for viewers and members. The finances involved were in fact similar.

8. Recently GAAGO has been the subject of considerable commentary and we will conduct a comprehensive review of its operation at season end.

Certainly not hired by the government, they are up to their necks in this conspiracy as well. The United Nations should do it.

Just announced - This is how Virgin Media reported it: The GAA and RTÉ are going to be called before an Oireachtas committee to face questions.

This is how RTE reported it:

The Oireachtas Committee on Tourism, Sport and Media has decided to hold two meetings on the future of sports broadcasting, in the aftermath of the row over GAAGO.

The first meeting will involve sporting organisations which include the GAA, FAI, Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) and the Federation of Irish Sport.

A separate meeting will be held with the broadcasters of sporting events: RTÉ, TG4, Virgin Media and Sky.

Games being unavailable on TV years ago is not false, just irrelevant. It's no different to saying that we should be glad television was invented.

The quality of games is determined to an extent by interest in them. Tipperary Cork had 36k at the match, and GAAgo still decided to put it behind a paywall confident it would be purchased. Compare and contrast with Dublin-Westmeath, or Kilkenny-Laois. Let's not be coy and falsely picky about standards. We all privately know which games are more likely to be watchable.

The point about the number of games has been dealt with already. It itself is a discredited red herring. Nobody cares how many games or what the average price is except someone with a particular interest in defending GAAgo.

I'll leave you to dance on the head of a semantic pin in relation to what "quality" means but suffice it to say that there's a reason Limerick-Clare is televised live and Kerry-Offaly wasn't. Nobody will know the outcome or margin of victory (if you assume that a large margin of victory automatically means poor quality of course,which you appear to be implying) in advance.

Never watched a game on gaago. A td says something that only means he’ll only get praise from voters I wouldn’t take much notice of it.

Gaa go gives people the option to watch a game they’d have to wait for a few minutes highlights on the Sunday game.

Can win in situation like this

What is relevant, is that the channels are still public service, and not just for sport. Games are being played on Saturdays and well as Sundays. A game starting at 7 pm on Saturday uses up a big chunk of viewing time which non sports types would be used to having. And that would have been two Saturdays in a row, if RTE had diverted their output to Clare Limerick and Cork Tipp.

RTE 2 has set aside a big time slot for rugby on Saturday, in direct competition to Waterford Clare throw in 6 pm on GAAGO. I can see even more outrage about the "national game" being sidelined for a foreign game on TV.

16:45 URC Live

Leinster v Munster (Kick-off 5.30pm). Coverage of the semi-final which comes from Aviva Stadium, as the teams battle if out for a place in the showpiece match on May 27

So another rugby game on that RTE Radio will spend a lot of time covering this Saturday evening. Last Saturday i waited until 20 minutes into the Dublin v Wexford game for RTE Sport to give the first update from Croke Park as there was a rugby game on. It lasted only a few minutes before back to the rugby. I turned it off soon after. I will not listen to RTE Sport this Saturday evening but tune into Clare FM or Waterford FM for uninterupted coverage of the game.

Everybody that has access to RTE currently already has the equipment required to watch all RTE channels. The Saorview box that everyone was given a few years ago allows for this. That box, and the pre existing Sky/VM boxes, allow everyone to just wake up one day and have an extra channel available to view, without even needing to ask for it.

There is no extra equipment required. The hypothetical channel is already live, you just need to 'unlock' your access to view it.

Every body already received all the current RTE Sport for free (well, apart from the one time TV licence fee). So that tells me that RTE are content enough to give it away 'for free'. This new GAA GO stuff has added a Pay Per View elementary to it. RTE getting €5 per month extra per account is only a bonus to them on top of what we already pay in licence fees and what they already earn in advertising revenue. And it's probably more money than they would make fron GAA GO in the couple months that GAA is actually in action.

Of course but all these matches to be televised/ recorded need to be staffed and people paid etc.

Stick them all behind a pay wall and then people can choose with their pockets if they're worth it.

If something has value, then punters should be prepared to pay for it.

Picture quality is not great. I've used the catch up service many times. Not the live. I'd imagine the live can't be much better.