The official Sky Sports GAA Thread!

copacetic

Undecided

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

437,000 watched the hurling final in the UK according to the Irish Independent. Seems decent enough.

Interesting they picked the 'reach' figure for Sky in UK but then compared it to the average RTE figure here. Its a great figure though, but possible a bit 'soft'?

i.e reach is anyone who turned it on at any time pretty much, 427k did that but only 100k viewers on average stuck with it for any length of time. Seems like a lot of people stumbled across in on SS1 on a day when not much other sport was on.

Independent then uses average RTE figure of 784k in Ireland, rather than the same 'reach' figure of 1.1m.

Looks like indo were briefed by sky and spun it their way.

Funny how the different spins went in the papers to create 3 totally different storys to suit different angles.


Times - 'No final flourish as viewing figures down on last year'
784k was 100k down on last years average but was a 68% share compared
to a 64 last year.

Examiner - 'RTÉ coverage proves a hit with viewers'

RTE win battle with sky - average viewers 784k, Sky 24k.

bruschi

No

copacetic wrote: »

Interesting they picked the 'reach' figure for Sky in UK but then compared it to the average RTE figure here. Its a great figure though, but possible a bit 'soft'?

i.e reach is anyone who turned it on at any time pretty much, 427k did that but only 100k viewers on average stuck with it for any length of time. Seems like a lot of people stumbled across in on SS1 on a day when not much other sport was on.

Independent then uses average RTE figure of 784k in Ireland, rather than the same 'reach' figure of 1.1m.

Looks like indo were briefed by sky and spun it their way.

Funny how the different spins went in the papers to create 3 totally different storys to suit different angles.


Times - 'No final flourish as viewing figures down on last year'
784k was 100k down on last years average but was a 68% share compared
to a 64 last year.

Examiner - 'RTÉ coverage proves a hit with viewers'

RTE win battle with sky - average viewers 784k, Sky 24k.

pretty much the point I was saying all along. and again, I assume the 24K figure they use doesnt include those on HD or those who use the pay online service either, which is another folly of these numbers.

agfasfos

No

Do Sky use their own camera crews, completely different than RTE ?.

Prop Joe

Undecided

agfasfos wrote: »

Do Sky use their own camera crews, completely different than RTE ?.

I'm nearly sure Sky use RTE's but also bring a lock of their own

thesultan

Undecided

darsheblows wrote: »

Just to add to the benefits of skys GAA coverage.
I walked up Jones's road after the match on Sunday alongside Rachel Wyse ... I didn't think anything could top my excitement after the game .. I was wrong.

you did yeah

munchkin_utd

No

the schedules are up for this Sunday and the hurling replay the Saturday after.
Both will be on Sky Sports 3 and both are on parallel to a Premier League game, with the hurling also on the same time as live ryder cup golf.

GerB40

munchkin_utd wrote: »

the schedules are up for this Sunday and the hurling replay the Saturday after.
Both will be on Sky Sports 3 and both are on parallel to a Premier League game, with the hurling also on the same time as live ryder cup golf.

Whoa that's a surprise.. It seems they've taken to the GAA better than expected. Some amount of sport to watch for the next few weeks..

iDave

No

Imagine watching golf having never seen hurling and then flicking over to it . You would get a heart attack.

Hibbeler

No

The drawn hurling final was lucky in the sense that it took place on an international weekend in the soccer, thus no premier league to compete with and it got top billing on Sky Sports 1. Couldn't really expect the same for this weekend with the PL and Ryder cup understandably coming out ahead for UK audiences

deadybai

http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/columnists/john-fogarty/ucd-report-puts-a-cloud-over-sky-deal-309350.html#.VMizMtp6N-U.twitter

So it looks like GAA on Sky was a bit of a disaster going by this. Personally I am still opposed to it. I think that if the GAA want to show games abroad fair enough, but surely they can make the games on Sky free to view for Irish viewers. But this is an interesting article. Especially the bit comparing it to TV3.

Rouse also establishes viewing figures for major GAA games in Ireland “collapsed” because of the Sky agreement. Allowing for the fact Sky Sports 3 HD figures aren’t measured in Ireland, he compares an average of 59,000 viewers watching the Dublin-Monaghan All-Ireland SFC quarter-final last year to 442,800 on TV3 for Dublin’s equivalent game in 2013.

ProudDUB

deadybai wrote: »

So it looks like GAA on Sky was a bit of a disaster going by this. Personally I am still opposed to it. I think that if the GAA want to show games abroad fair enough, but surely they can make the games on Sky free to view for Irish viewers. But this is an interesting article. Especially the bit comparing it to TV3.

But how can Sky make money if the games here are free? What motivation do they have to get involved with broadcasting GAA games, if all the games are free to Irish viewers? There whole reason for getting involved with the GAA is because they want Irish subscribers to sign up for Sky to watch games. They won't do that if the games are free. I am still undecided as to whether I am for or against the Sky deal, I am just looking at it from Sky's perspective.

Of course the viewing number will be way less than they were last year. But I doubt if Sky were expecting every single person in Ireland to sign up for a Sky sports package in year 1 of the deal. They are in this for the long haul. They probably have a number in mind of how many subscribers they need to make this whole thing profitable, and have a set number of years to reach that number. It will be a few years before we and they know if they reach those targets or not.

bruschi

No

deadybai wrote: »

http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/columnists/john-fogarty/ucd-report-puts-a-cloud-over-sky-deal-309350.html#.VMizMtp6N-U.twitter

So it looks like GAA on Sky was a bit of a disaster going by this. Personally I am still opposed to it. I think that if the GAA want to show games abroad fair enough, but surely they can make the games on Sky free to view for Irish viewers. But this is an interesting article. Especially the bit comparing it to TV3.

Dr Paul Rouse, I knew I recognised the name. He is the same guy who had pretty much the very same article written about Pay TV and Rugby and Cricket. He has the same agenda and it's very, very easy to skew stats or partial stats in this case to suit your argument.

The sky figures do not count Northern Ireland. They do not count those who took up the online subscription offer. They do not count those who use sky go. They do not count those who use HD.

Now by no means am I saying Sky sports was a runaway success or that I am in favour or whatever, but I'd much rather have full and proper figures before casting any judgement. I will say, I do think their coverage and their presentation was very good, especially considering it was their first year doing GAA. RTE even stepped up their game as a result.

I think it was a worthwhile venture though, and it will be interesting to see how it pans out next year.

munchkin_utd

No

bruschi wrote: »

Dr Paul Rouse, I knew I recognised the name. He is the same guy who had pretty much the very same article written about Pay TV and Rugby and Cricket. He has the same agenda and it's very, very easy to skew stats or partial stats in this case to suit your argument.
<snip>

This is very important to bear in mind. He is paid to produce acadmic reports, his message has always been that sky/ paytv is bad, therefore either through bias or not wanting to undermine his previous studies he will be be looking to show the pay tv deal as being unsuccessful.

Its good though to have this balance with his view on one extreme that sky is very bad, the GAA who did the deal obviously are going to defend it and say the sky deal was a great move, and the truth is probably somewhere in the middle !

munchkin_utd

No

also, the definition of success is different to a GAA person abroad than a media head.
A media head, mass media, wants big viewing figures. That means success as then you can sell more pitchside ads, attract more sponsors, get a better tv deal next time round.
Big numbers = success. Everything else is a waste of time.

A GAA head on the ground in the UK, where nobody has a clue about his games, where you have to explain what football and hurling is when approaching a school to get kids playing (as in, no, its not like rugby, theres no tackle to the ground etc).
Now to him, if half a million turn over during a premier game or whatever, thats great. Thats a half million less clueless brits. Grand, its not 500,000 GAA fans, but to the GAA abroad you are dealing with complete cluelessness and unawareness of the games and if you are slowly going from every non gaa person asking "whats Gaelic football/ hurling" to "I saw 5 minutes of that game you play on sky the other day" you have gigantic progress (aka SUCCESS) .

munchkin_utd

No

in light of the british golf open now heading behind a paywall and going back to a previous issue to the listing of GAA games as designated for free to air, the report that decided the designated event listings makes interesting reading. Its 160pages, and I'm at work, so only got a flick through, but this stood out for me:

Because GAA matches are in category 1 or 2(edit: games not of interest to pay TV channels !), Indecon believes that the impact of designation of additional GAA events is unlikely to have any
significant costs for the sport as the main competition for broadcast is likely to be free-to-air broadcasters. We also understand that GAA are committed to ensuring free-to-air broadcasting for their major matches.

http://www.dcenr.gov.ie/NR/rdonlyres/E8E4BC58-E4FD-4282-B34D-F01AF1020188/0/IndeconFinalRedactedReport.pdf

you'd wonder if the report will say the same the next time!
(although to be fair, its fairly implausable that the GAA would ever have the majority of important championship games on pay tv)

keane2097

No

Rachel Wyse mentioned in an interview with the Daily Star that they had 500k people watching the hurling final, which seems like a good chunk. Seems like there's plenty of massaging the figures (read: lies) on both sides of the argument.

iDave

No

Also talk of them ramping up their coverage in 2015. No specifics but they must be reasonably happy with how year one went if they are prepared to make a bigger effort in year two.

deadybai

Does Sky have more games this year?

davegrohl48

No specific amount given in the gaa 2014 accounts for the income from Sky sports or GAA Go. Media coverage income was only up 3.5% on 2013!!!

ProudDUB

deadybai wrote: »

Does Sky have more games this year?

The 2015 broadcasting schedule hasn't been announced yet.

davegrohl48 wrote: »

No specific amount given in the gaa 2014 accounts for the income from Sky sports or GAA Go. Media coverage income was only up 3.5% on 2013!!!

That's not surprising. When the Sky deal was announced, the GAA said that Sky didn't pay all that much more for broadcasting rights, than previous telly companies did. So I wouldn't expect there to be a massive hike in the overall profits from media coverage.

davegrohl48

ProudDUB wrote: »

The 2015 broadcasting schedule hasn't been announced yet.



That's not surprising. When the Sky deal was announced, the GAA said that Sky didn't pay all that much more for broadcasting rights, than previous telly companies did. So I wouldn't expect there to be a massive hike in the overall profits from media coverage.

I didn't expect a massive hike either. But 3.5% seems a pitifully low increase.
3.5% is the kind of increase you would expect as a price increase on a single supplier. Remember there is Sky Sports + GAA Go revenue as totally new income.

Realt Dearg Sec

davegrohl48 wrote: »

I didn't expect a massive hike either. But 3.5% seems a pitifully low increase.
3.5% is the kind of increase you would expect as a price increase on a single supplier. Remember there is Sky Sports + GAA Go revenue as totally new income.

Whatever about gaago, sky is not new revenue, in that tv3 represented the same revenue the previous year. They sis at the time they weren't getting more money from the deal, just better foreign coverage.

I'm still sceptical about the extent of that coverage, and the speed that supporters of the deal went to claim that the argument had been put to bed doesn't mean they were right. I still, a year in, don't know how I feel about the deal, and presentations of the facts have still never managed to shed the suspicion that any such facts are being selected to suit one agenda or another.

davegrohl48

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

Whatever about gaago, sky is not new revenue, in that tv3 represented the same revenue the previous year. They sis at the time they weren't getting more money from the deal, just better foreign coverage.

I'm still sceptical about the extent of that coverage, and the speed that supporters of the deal went to claim that the argument had been put to bed doesn't mean they were right. I still, a year in, don't know how I feel about the deal, and presentations of the facts have still never managed to shed the suspicion that any such facts are being selected to suit one agenda or another.

I forgot about TV3 revenue. This was all dressed up as growing the game abroad. However I believe the game abroad has grown without a whole lot of support.
- Tournament costs have to be paid by host European clubs. You wouldn't believe extent of costs involved. All of these costs are not optional, the club is bound by GAA rules in having to cover them.
1. A specific lunch pack (sandwich/1.5 litres bottled water/energy drink/energy bar/piece fruit) for for every player (can be 150 - 200 players)
2. Hotel cost of referees
3. Cost of ambulance and medical team
4. Full cost of presentation evening, venue rental and meal usually buffet for every player
5. Rental of two soccer pitches (mens/ladies)
6. Tournament fee for all the host clubs participating players .... yes they have to pay a fee for every one of their own players in a tournament they've put up the full cost for!!

Realt Dearg Sec

davegrohl48 wrote: »

I forgot about TV3 revenue. This was all dressed up as growing the game abroad. However I believe the game abroad has grown without a whole lot of support.
- Tournament costs have to be paid by host European clubs. You wouldn't believe extent of costs involved. All of these costs are not optional, the club is bound by GAA rules in having to cover them.
1. A specific lunch pack (sandwich/1.5 litres bottled water/energy drink/energy bar/piece fruit) for for every player (can be 150 - 200 players)
2. Hotel cost of referees
3. Cost of ambulance and medical team
4. Full cost of presentation evening, venue rental and meal usually buffet for every player
5. Rental of two soccer pitches (mens/ladies)
6. Tournament fee for all the host clubs participating players .... yes they have to pay a fee for every one of their own players in a tournament they've put up the full cost for!!

That sounds pretty steep. In Dublin, we would be paying a competition fee (can't remember what this is but significant), insurance for the team for a year (1000 quid per team on the Player Injury Scheme), referees (20 quid per team per game), and obviously pitch rental etc. Obviously first aid kits and all the other little expenses that go into running any sport too.

Just wondering, with the European clubs as you break it down there. You say this is if you are hosting a tournament? How big are the tournaments (like how many teams visit the club for this one weekend?)
1. Supplying a lunch pack? Are these children you're hosting or grown adults? Ludicrous that this would be compulsory, dunno why the visiting clubs couldn't pay for their own lunch.
2. Meh, seems fair enough, someone has to pay for the ref.
3. Again seems unavoidable in one sense if it is a tournament with lots of teams playing games all day or something. In one off matches obviously at home we don't just always have an ambulance hanging around, not sure why that should be different in Europe.
4. Ah, if teams are coming a long way something should be put on. But I'd have thought a few platters of sausages would do them, it's not the royal family come to visit.
5. Seems fair enough, someone has to rent the pitches...
6. Not sure I understand. Doesn't every team have to pay for all their participating players, or is it just the host team? I know you've said you meet all the expenses and yet hand over this money, is it an insurance thing?

I'm curious about the GAA in Europe generally, which is why I ask, but also my own club is going playing a match in Europe in March, not part of a tournament, just curious what the ins and outs of it all are.

davegrohl48

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

That sounds pretty steep. In Dublin, we would be paying a competition fee (can't remember what this is but significant), insurance for the team for a year (1000 quid per team on the Player Injury Scheme), referees (20 quid per team per game), and obviously pitch rental etc. Obviously first aid kits and all the other little expenses that go into running any sport too.

Just wondering, with the European clubs as you break it down there. You say this is if you are hosting a tournament? How big are the tournaments (like how many teams visit the club for this one weekend?)
1. Supplying a lunch pack? Are these children you're hosting or grown adults? Ludicrous that this would be compulsory, dunno why the visiting clubs couldn't pay for their own lunch.
2. Meh, seems fair enough, someone has to pay for the ref.
3. Again seems unavoidable in one sense if it is a tournament with lots of teams playing games all day or something. In one off matches obviously at home we don't just always have an ambulance hanging around, not sure why that should be different in Europe.
4. Ah, if teams are coming a long way something should be put on. But I'd have thought a few platters of sausages would do them, it's not the royal family come to visit.
5. Seems fair enough, someone has to rent the pitches...
6. Not sure I understand. Doesn't every team have to pay for all their participating players, or is it just the host team? I know you've said you meet all the expenses and yet hand over this money, is it an insurance thing?

I'm curious about the GAA in Europe generally, which is why I ask, but also my own club is going playing a match in Europe in March, not part of a tournament, just curious what the ins and outs of it all are.

Typically 7 clubs/cities might turn up of which 5 might have ladies teams.
So that is 12 teams at around 13 players per squad brings it in around 150.
The lunch pack is vital as you would have people arriving off a bus morning of the tournament who might have driven 10 hours over night. So they really need to have some food/drinks provided rather than having to go and try and source food in a strange city at 8am in the morning.
The presentation evening is vital to have social aspect and many people on teams have got to know each other this way. Yes every team has to pay a player tournament participation fee per player.
The costs are all justifiable, I understand why they are needed. I just think personally some support in terms of those costs should be given to the host club. I am not sure what the player tournament participation fee is used for.

markmurphy

Undecided

Hi all.

Does anyone know if Santana are showing any live GAA matches this year?
If so which matches?

Also which matches are live ONLY on sky this year?
Thanks.

Mark.

Brian017

markmurphy wrote: »

Hi all.

Does anyone know if Santana are showing any live GAA matches this year?
If so which matches?

Also which matches are live ONLY on sky this year?
Thanks.

Mark.

Setanta have the rights to the Saturday night league games in both codes.

14/2/15 Cork v Kilkenny (H) Setanta Ireland 19.00
14/2/15 Limerick v Waterford (H) Setanta 1 19.00

21/2/15 Cork v Clare (H) Setanta Ireland 19.00
21/2/15 Waterford v Laois (H) Setanta 1 19.00

28/2/15 Tyrone v Derry (F) Setanta Ireland 19.00
28/2/15 Cavan v Down (F) Setanta 1 19.00

7/3/15 Dublin v Cork (H) Setanta Ireland 17.00
7/3/15 Dublin v Tyrone (F) Setanta Ireland 19.00
7/3/15 Cavan v Kildare (F) Setanta 1 19.00
14/3/15 Mayo v Dublin (F) Setanta 1 19.00
14/3/15 Meath v Laois (F) Setanta Ireland 19.00
28/3/15 Dublin v Derry (F) Setanta Ireland 19.00
28/3/15 Down v Meath (F) Setanta 1 19.00

Sky's exclusive games will probably be announced around March-April

markmurphy

Undecided

Brian017 wrote: »

Setanta have the rights to the Saturday night league games in both codes.

14/2/15 Cork v Kilkenny (H) Setanta Ireland 19.00
14/2/15 Limerick v Waterford (H) Setanta 1 19.00

21/2/15 Cork v Clare (H) Setanta Ireland 19.00
21/2/15 Waterford v Laois (H) Setanta 1 19.00

28/2/15 Tyrone v Derry (F) Setanta Ireland 19.00
28/2/15 Cavan v Down (F) Setanta 1 19.00

7/3/15 Dublin v Cork (H) Setanta Ireland 17.00
7/3/15 Dublin v Tyrone (F) Setanta Ireland 19.00
7/3/15 Cavan v Kildare (F) Setanta 1 19.00
14/3/15 Mayo v Dublin (F) Setanta 1 19.00
14/3/15 Meath v Laois (F) Setanta Ireland 19.00
28/3/15 Dublin v Derry (F) Setanta Ireland 19.00
28/3/15 Down v Meath (F) Setanta 1 19.00

Sky's exclusive games will probably be announced around March-April

Thanks so much. Your the best tech support EVER!!!

Mark.

davegrohl48

What are people's thoughts on a tv company Sky Sports being allowed access to Irish schools to promote sport. Katie Taylor and a team of athlete mentors are going around to participating schools. Plenty of moments where the kids meet their heroes etc. personally I think it's corporate pr nonsense. What next? McDonald's promoting healthy eating. Guinness promoting abstaining from alcohol.
Ireland is full of sports clubs in every town and city. Physical education is part of the school curriculum.

Dirty Dingus McGee

davegrohl48 wrote: »

What are people's thoughts on a tv company Sky Sports being allowed access to Irish schools to promote sport. Katie Taylor and a team of athlete mentors are going around to participating schools. Plenty of moments where the kids meet their heroes etc. personally I think it's corporate pr nonsense. What next? McDonald's promoting healthy eating. Guinness promoting abstaining from alcohol.
Ireland is full of sports clubs in every town and city. Physical education is part of the school curriculum.

Why not.Sure sky don't really give a toss about any school children and are using it to promote their brand but if it has some positive spin off affects then I'm all for it.The more promotion sport gets in schools the better.