RTE secures new GAA rights package

GalwayDub2

RTÉ secures new GAA rights package
Tuesday, 19 February 2008 13:17
The GAA today announced that RTÉ has secured the rights for comprehensive GAA Championship coverage across television, radio and RTÉ.ie for the next three seasons, guaranteeing free-to-air coverage up to and including 2010.
Today's announcement ensures that the public will enjoy quality coverage of our national games across all of RTÉ's media platforms.
RTÉ has secured:
- four live television packages for the GAA Championships
- the Sunday night television highlights package
- all available live national radio rights in both the English and Irish language
- rights to simulcast televised matches on RTÉ.ie throughout the island of Ireland.
RTÉ partnered BBC Northern Ireland to ensure that viewers throughout the island of Ireland will have free-to-air coverage of the Ulster Championships.
Today's announcement means that the RTÉ audience will, over the next three years, have access to:
- 120 live Championship games on RTÉ Television
- Highlights of every Championship game each week on RTÉ Television's The Sunday Game
- Live and exclusive Championship coverage on RTÉ Radio 1 and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta
- Extensive RTÉ News coverage on RTÉ One and RTÉ Two television, RTÉ Radio 1, RTÉ 2 fm, RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, RTÉ.ie and RTÉ Aertel
- All televised Championship matches, highlights and video clips on demand on RTÉ.ie throughout the island of Ireland.
'Public service in its essence'
Cathal Goan, Director-General, RTÉ, said: 'In a highly competitive media marketplace, it is of vital importance that the GAA Championship rights, a central part of Irish cultural life, have been retained by Ireland's Public Service Broadcaster. RTÉ made a significant investment to secure these rights and ensure that the public will continue to enjoy high quality coverage of our national games across all RTÉ services. The provision of such comprehensive GAA coverage across all of RTÉ's media platforms is public service in its essence. This new agreement further builds on the proud shared history between RTÉ and the GAA and we look forward to continuing to develop our partnership into the future.'
'Dedication to delivering quality Gaelic Games coverage'
Glen Killane, Group Head of Sport, RTÉ, added: 'The awarding of these rights to RTÉ is testament to our commitment to ensure that Gaelic Games are showcased to the best possible standard across RTÉ television, radio and RTÉ.ie. We are passionate about what we do and our dedication to delivering quality Gaelic Games coverage is unstinting. In a new development, I'm particularly delighted that RTÉ's partnership with the BBC has ensured that fans throughout the island of Ireland will enjoy Ulster Championship games free-to-air. The awarding of these new rights to RTÉ enables us to continue to deliver and enhance our Championship coverage for the next three years for the public throughout the island of Ireland to engage with and enjoy."
Nickey Brennan, President of the GAA, stated that he was very pleased that the negotiations in regard to Television and Radio Rights had now concluded. The President said that the GAA's relationship with RTÉ went back many decades and that he was very happy that the national broadcaster continues to be the Association's primary media partner.
The President stated: 'RTÉ Radio and Television coverage of Gaelic Games has been part of the fabric of Irish society for generations and I look forward to this relationship being maintained with quality coverage over the next three years.'

Badabing

Looks a very good deal for both sides, looking forward to seeing how tv3 get on in the summer, appartently they have 2 provincial finals live with their rights, also newstalk must be gutted they got no radio rights as their sports show is lacking any live coverage as it is now and a poor second best to rte.

Tomthepost

:mad:
Disappointed Setanta got nothing. Have given alot to the game by showing O'Byrne Cup, Feile's, Schools and National League. Not big winners when it comes to attracting huge audience figures or advertising money but something Setanta done all the same.
Now instead of being allowed to show championship games deferred 24 hours later Setanta can't show them for 48 hours.
Kick in the teeth:mad:

Badabing

Tomthepost wrote: »

:mad:
Disappointed Setanta got nothing. Have given alot to the game by showing O'Byrne Cup, Feile's, Schools and National League. Not big winners when it comes to attracting huge audience figures or advertising money but something Setanta done all the same.
Now instead of being allowed to show championship games deferred 24 hours later Setanta can't show them for 48 hours.
Kick in the teeth:mad:

Agree 100% with you, at least they retained the national league rights saturday nights an 4 sunday afternoons.

bbability

Its a disgrace. There should be an investigation into this one. 20 million is alot of money. Think of all that money invested in the future talent in the game. Instead they fixed up their buddies once again in RTE Sport...

Skyhater

bbability wrote: »

Its a disgrace. There should be an investigation into this one. 20 million is alot of money. Think of all that money invested in the future talent in the game. Instead they fixed up their buddies once again in RTE Sport...

I honestly think the GAA had the interest of the game (...and the grass root supported) at heart when awarding the rights to RTE/TV3.
Looks what happened to Boxing when it went onto Pay TV..... totally declined in popularity.

Having said that. Setanta have done a good job and should have been rewarded.....even with games 41 to 50.

blackbelt

I'm delighted that the GAA put the fans of the game first before money.Afterall,the sport wasn't created with the view of making money or profit.

Its easy to say that Setanta were given a raw deal but looking at the prospect of the championship being on PPV is giving the real fan a raw deal expecting a fan to pay up to see a game on tv while lining the pockets of those.

I see on newspapers that the GAA "lost" 20 million euro on the packages.The GAA didn't actually lose 20 million.That 20 million was an opportunity cost as Setanta bidded higher than RTE but another cost of excepting the offer from Setanta was that the coverage on a national basis would have decreased big time leading to the GAA losing more money and fan interest on a medium- long term basis.

The only thing I would have argued was that Setanta could have and maybe should have been given rights to cover qualifiers not normally televised and thus increase coverage for the country.I think the GAA handled this morally and responsibly but there was an opportunity there for Setanta to fill that niche market that goes on un-serviced.

Skyhater

blackbelt wrote: »

.....looking at the prospect of the championship being on PPV is giving the real fan a raw deal expecting a fan to pay up to see a game on tv.......

I don't think Setanta ever had plans for games going PPV..... The games would have been shown on their standard subscription based channels. (Setanta Ireland & Setanta Sports 1).

Tomthepost

Skyhater wrote: »

I don't think Setanta ever had plans for games going PPV..... The games would have been shown on their standard subscription based channels. (Setanta Ireland & Setanta Sports 1).

Just on Setanta Ireland Skyhater. Now in over 700,000 Irish homes.

Skyhater

Tomthepost wrote: »

Just on Setanta Ireland Skyhater. Now in over 700,000 Irish homes.

There you have it, even basic NTL/Chorus packages have Setanta Ireland.

Definitely not PPV (which Setanta don't even do with Soccer or Boxing Coverage)

smashey

Skyhater wrote: »

There you have it, even basic NTL/Chorus packages have Setanta Ireland.

Definitely not PPV (which Setanta don't even do with Soccer or Boxing Coverage)

Eh, there is a big swathe of this country that doesn't have cable. You know, anwhere north of an imaginary line from Dublin to Galway. Setanta is only available through Sky. I have sky and there is no way I'll be subscribing to Setanta. There are many hundreds of thousands who don't have Sky, so for them, getting Setanta would mean a double subscription.

I agree with Blackbelt. :eek: I'm delighted that RTE and TV3 (and I despise TV3) got the rights between them.

Skyhater

smashey wrote: »

Eh, there is a big swathe of this country that doesn't have cable. You know, anwhere north of an imaginary line from Dublin to Galway. Setanta is only available through Sky. I have sky and there is no way I'll be subscribing to Setanta. There are many hundreds of thousands who don't have Sky, so for them, getting Setanta would mean a double subscription.

I agree with Blackbelt. :eek: I'm delighted that RTE and TV3 (and I despise TV3) got the rights between them.

I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm more than happy that the matches are Free To Air. I was just making the point that Setanta were not planning any PPV matches. (which everyone would have had to pay more for).

However i do agree with Tomthepost's post above. Setanta should have been gining some package. Even some sat evening qualifiers.... Competition is good for the GAA, and ultimately for the consumer.
I remember the days where only the All-Ireland Semi-Finals and Final were shown live..... That was before Sky came in with a bid and forced RTE (and the GAA) to wake up the the new world of sport coverage.

Also, remember that the entire country will be switching to Digital Terrestrial Television in the next few years (prob by 2015), therefore Setanta will be available in 98% of homes....... maybe even with a Free To Air channel

GAAman

Delighted tbh cos only way of getin setanta up here is through sky and i aint got the sponduluks to be gettin that in

patmac

Tomthepost wrote: »

:mad:
Disappointed Setanta got nothing. Have given alot to the game by showing O'Byrne Cup, Feile's, Schools and National League. Not big winners when it comes to attracting huge audience figures or advertising money but something Setanta done all the same.
Now instead of being allowed to show championship games deferred 24 hours later Setanta can't show them for 48 hours.
Kick in the teeth:mad:

Why should I pay extra to watch GAA coverage? If it ain't broke don't fix it. Delighted that RTE have won the rights again rather than Setanta especially as there are rumours of take over bids which would mean them losing their 'Irish' focus.

smashey

Skyhater wrote: »

I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm more than happy that the matches are Free To Air. I was just making the point that Setanta were not planning any PPV matches. (which everyone would have had to pay more for).

Fair enough. I'm just pointing out that had Setanta been awarded a package, a lot of people would have to subscribe to Sky in order to receive Setanta. Now, whether Setanta were planning PPV or not, people were still going to have to pay to see their games.

blackbelt

The GAA had to consider the whole of the country.Ulster counties would not have the same cable television that Leinster,Munster and Connaught do bar RTE and BBC.I have Sky digital at home with Sky Sports yet I don't get Setanta 1 or 2 and I don't get the basic Setanta Ireland that I have on my NTL.

As Patmac said,there is speculation that Setanta will be bought out by a consortium.If the consortium are from outside countries,they could have run rough shod over the public with the rights without taking into account the heritage and importance of our games.

Also quality of coverage is crucial.RTE are the leaders in this department.Although Setanta have decent coverage,I don't think for one second they could match RTE along with the lineup of panellists that they have ie Michael Lyster,O Rourke,Brolly,Maloney and Canning.These guys have been covering the championship for years and experience goes a long way.

So in order for the sport and the GAA to thrive in the long run it made more sense to accept a lower offer that

A) Maintained a high coverage rate nationally
B)Is of high quality coverage
C)Kept up with tradition
D)Was moral

There was also the issue of trust and the GAA have had a long term relationship with RTE and has worked.This would be keeping in line with the GAA strategy as its thriving.

It will be interesting to see how TV3 perform in covering their allotted matches.I think they have two provincial finals in both codes?How on Earth are TV3 and RTE going to battle on which finals they'll cover.I'd imagine RTE would strongly like to cover the Leinster and Ulster Final in football and the Leinster and Munster Final in hurling.

Mossy Monk

This is great news for the supporter. I do not think Setanta should have gotten any games unless they were freely available to every household in the country.

Tomthepost

patmac wrote: »

Why should I pay extra to watch GAA coverage? If it ain't broke don't fix it. Delighted that RTE have won the rights again rather than Setanta especially as there are rumours of take over bids which would mean them losing their 'Irish' focus.

Have you something to back up this losing their 'Irish' focus comment? It seems like an assumption with nothing to back it up.