Free To Air.

Xenophile

I fully support the motion.

On Monday night the Kerry County Board passed a motion calling on all games to be kept on free-to-air, non-subscription stations.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2015/1208/752132-kerry-backs-call-for-free-to-air-television-games/

Fr Tod Umptious

The last year of the current deal is 2016.

So next year or early 2017 we will know about who is carrying from 2017 onwards.

Sky will not continue if they are not seeing the expected increase in subs and the GAA may not be willing to sell to Sky for more or less the same price as TV3 if they are not seeing an increase in UK interest.

Dirty Dingus McGee

RTE cost €160 per year so they don't really count as Free To Air either.

Don't see the big fuss about having games on subscription stations. You have to pay to go to matches so why the massive objection if a game happens to be on a TV channel you have to pay for.

kneemos

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

RTE cost €160 per year so they don't really count as Free To Air either.

Don't see the big fuss about having games on subscription stations. You have to pay to go to matches so why the massive objection if a game happens to be on a TV channel you have to pay for.

Because it's an amateur game.
Countless volunteers give their time free of charge to maintain the organisation.
Putting it on a subscription channel would be a kick in the arse for these people and loyal supporters.

If they do go the Sky route I can't see how the players could continue without a cut.

Fr Tod Umptious

kneemos wrote: »

Because it's an amateur game.
Countless volunteers give their time free of charge to maintain the organisation.
Putting it on a subscription channel would be a kick in the arse for these people and loyal supporters.

If they do go the Sky route I can't see how the players could continue without a cut.

If they do go the Sky route ?

Wake up, its 2015, they have already been on Sky for 2 seasons.

And the old "its an amature game" line is the most senseless argument around this whole thing.
You have to pay to entry, programs, merchandise etc don't you ?
Just cos its amature does not mean that it can be free.

Gaygooner

RTE don't get the €160 - that's a government charge for owning a device capable of receiving a TV signal


It's FTA on RTE/TV3/TG4 or UTV Ireland

kneemos

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

If they do go the Sky route ?

Wake up, its 2015, they have already been on Sky for 2 seasons.

And the old "its an amature game" line is the most senseless argument around this whole thing.
You have to pay to entry, programs, merchandise etc don't you ?
Just cos its amature does not mean that it can be free.

You don't see anything wrong with an organisation like Sky asking people to pay to see something that is the heart and soul of many communities,played by unpaid players and run by volunteers?
If not I suggest you examine your priorities.

ProudDUB

Gaygooner wrote: »

RTE don't get the €160 - that's a government charge for owning a device capable of receiving a TV signal


It's FTA on RTE/TV3/TG4 or UTV Ireland

RTE do get the bulk of the license fee. They make a quare few bob from selling advertising on their shows, show promotions etc etc, but most of their funding comes from the license fee.

I'd very surprised if the Sky deal is renewed. The current contract will probably be allowed die a slow death & won't be renewed without much fanfare. The GAA were never going to admit they made a mistake, when the first year proved to be so controversial. The powers that be in HQ, are much too arrogant for that.

If the Sky deal was a massive success, both in terms of revenue generated for the GAA (which could be filtered down to the grass roots,) or if it built a large overseas viewing base, I could see a case for keeping it. But it hasn't done either one, so what's the point of keeping it any longer?

Initially, I was semi in favour it. I hoped that a new kid on the block broadcasting rival may shake the tired RTE set up up a bit. But we are still stuck with the Three Stooges, having the same old arguments on the Sunday Game. We are still stuck with the old fart brigade of the Ger Cannings and the Martin Carneys doing the match commentary, so not much change there either.

Dirty Dingus McGee

kneemos wrote: »

You don't see anything wrong with an organisation like Sky asking people to pay to see something that is the heart and soul of many communities,played by unpaid players and run by volunteers?
If not I suggest you examine your priorities.

But the organisation itself asks you to pay to see the games so why is it any different if Sky do it.

Only a very small percentage of games are on sky and we've had league matches on Setanta for years but nobody complained about it.

Fr Tod Umptious

kneemos wrote: »

You don't see anything wrong with an organisation like Sky asking people to pay to see something that is the heart and soul of many communities,played by unpaid players and run by volunteers?
If not I suggest you examine your priorities.

As I already said the amateur argument only makes the people who make that argument look silly.

While we are here do you see anything wrong with Setanta asking people to pay to see something for the last 14 years that is the heart and soul of many communities,played by unpaid players and run by volunteers ?

If you have, where have you been since 2003 ?.

Xenophile

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

RTE cost €160 per year so they don't really count as Free To Air either.

Don't see the big fuss about having games on subscription stations. You have to pay to go to matches so why the massive objection if a game happens to be on a TV channel you have to pay for.

Your argument is lame, the licence fee in the main goes to make programmes like RTE Investigates, for example as we saw this week on bribery and corruption.

The licence fee should not be shared with any other station. Virgin Media has just bought TV3, good luck to them, let them run it under their own steam.

Xenophile

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

While we are here do you see anything wrong with Setanta asking people to pay to see something for the last 14 years that is the heart and soul of many communities,played by unpaid players and run by volunteers ?

Yes I do, if Setanta cannot generate the necessary revenue through advertising let them stay out of it. Take a trip trough rural Ireland, the heartland of the GAA, you will knock on many doors before you will find a household with Setanta. In fact you will not even find it in 95% of Public Houses.

Fr Tod Umptious

Xenophile wrote: »

Yes I do, if Setanta cannot generate the necessary revenue through advertising let them stay out of it. Take a trip trough rural Ireland, the heartland of the GAA, you will knock on many doors before you will find a household with Setanta. In fact you will not even find it in 95% of Public Houses.

So you totally disagree with the subscription sports model.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Xenophile wrote: »

Your argument is lame, the licence fee in the main goes to make programmes like RTE Investigates, for example as we saw this week on bribery and corruption.

The licence fee should not be shared with any other station. Virgin Media has just bought TV3, good luck to them, let them run it under their own steam.

How do you know it in the main goes to produces programmes like RTE Investigates?

If RTE want to use the "we produce quality home prroduced programmes" as an argument for the license fee then they should become a proper public service station and have no more british ,soaps american comedies and drams on it anymore.What's the point of RTE showing Homeland, The Big Bang Theory etc and using tax payers money when they can easily be got elsewhere.

The people of this county are forced to pay a charge in other for RTE to be operating.At least with sky you have a choice.

Xenophile

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

The people of this county are forced to pay a charge in other for RTE to be operating.At least with sky you have a choice.

Whether you put money into Rupert Murdoch's pocket or not.

Xenophile

Well Dirty Dingus McGee,

Do you support the Kerry Motion as in the opening post ?

paddy no 11

Hope this goes through - the head of GAA threatening to further whore themselves out to sky if RTE didnt stop criticising football was absolutely sickening. Should be kept on terrestial television

ProudDUB

Xenophile wrote: »

Whether you put money into Rupert Murdoch's pocket or not.

If you are a UPC customer (or whatever they are calling themselves these days,) you are already putting money into Rupert Murdoch's pockets, as Sky News and Sky Sports News come as part of their basic package. As UPC are in over a million Irish homes, the vast majority of us already are giving Rups a good few bob every year. So it's just a question of your choosing to give him even more of your money. Or not.

Xenophile

ProudDUB wrote: »

If you are a UPC customer (or whatever they are calling themselves these days,) you are already putting money into Rupert Murdoch's pockets, as Sky News and Sky Sports News come as part of their basic package. As UPC are in over a million Irish homes, the vast majority of us already are giving Rups a good few bob every year. So it's just a question of your choosing to give him even more of your money. Or not.

Just for the record UPC are now Virgin Media, controlled by Richard Branson ! So you have at least three choices RTE, Richard Branson or Rupert Murdoch.

ProudDUB

Xenophile wrote: »

Just for the record UPC are now Virgin Media, controlled by Richard Branson ! So you have at least three choices RTE, Richard Branson or Rupert Murdoch.

I know about the UPC/Virgin thing. Their bloody ads are all over the telly. :rolleyes:

The television cable/satellite companies (such as UPC and Sky) pay tv stations to broadcast them on their network. Sometimes it is a flat fee. Some times it is a share of their advertizing revenue. Sometimes its a combination of the two.

So UPC pay the likes of RTE, BBC, Channel 4, UTV, Dave, Sky News, Discovery, E, CNN etc etc to broadcast their stations on their cable network.

Likewise, SKY pay RTE, Channel 4, UTV, Channel 4, Dave, Discovery, E, CNN etc etc to broadcast their stations on their network. Obviously, they don't pay themselves to broadcast their own stations.

So even if you are a basic UPC cable subscriber, RM is still getting your money, as every time you pay your UPC bill, some of it goes towards UPC paying for the "free" Sky channels that you get. It's up to you, whether you decide to pay for the additional sports and movie ones.

randd1

Personally, I don't care as long as more games are shown.

There's scope in the summer months with the long evenings to have two Saturday games and three Sunday games on TV. There's a big opportunity to show some of the lesser lights as well who often go barely noticed.

As it is the coverage of the GAA championships are terrible and limited.

What's sickening is that there is rarely anything decent on terrestrial TV before 8, so give them something to show and promote the games.

But of course the GAA will limit the number of games, and some will be not available to terrestrial TV, further limiting exposure.

Basically, I'd prefer games to be shown first, then on terrestrial TV second.

munchkin_utd

again a lot here are COMPLETELY missing the point. There is lots of GAA on TV, arguably too much.
This from Pauric Duffy from the congress last spring (and this is something that has been bubbling in the background from County and provinicial people for years)

He concluded his comments however by asking whether there were now too many matches being televised at a time when attendances at matches were suffering. It was , he suggested, a more important issue than the Sky deal.
Wrong issue
“We’re debating the wrong issue. The number of games on Sky is not significant. The debate needs a different direction. Is 100 live games the way to go? Attendances are less than they were 10 years ago, significantly less. We have managed to address the decline in recent years and crowds were slightly up in 2014.

“Is broadcast policy impacting on attendances and club games? We’re showing two live games every Sunday throughout the summer.

“The experience in other sports is that as TV gets better and better the idea of watching games at home becomes more and more attractive. The question becomes ‘will I go to the match, travel to the venue and buy tickets when I can sit down and watch two games on television?’

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/gaa-congress-p%C3%A1raic-duffy-says-number-of-televised-games-now-an-issue-1.2120865

I have said it before and you can read it from the comments above, if the sky deal gets the chop I would not be surprised in the least if the pay TV games simply get the chop and you go from 40FTA + 10 or so pay tv championship games to simply 40 FTA games, with a tendency over the next few packages to have less championship games on TV
People presume that if sky goes that there would be then 25% more games on FTA. I dont think that can be taken as a given.

Theres a certain beauty about the sky deal in that coverage on a Saturday evening is still there, but limited, which then means less effect on Saturday evening club games compared to having the 7pm games on RTE/ Tv3

Quackster

Xenophile wrote: »

Just for the record UPC are now Virgin Media, controlled by Richard Branson ! So you have at least three choices RTE, Richard Branson or Rupert Murdoch.

Virgin Media is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liberty Global, a multinational cable company controlled by Irish-American billionaire John Malone. Prior to being bought by Liberty Global, Richard Branson had a 2% share in Virgin Media.

Liberty licences the Virgin brand from Virgin Group and, therefore, uses Richard Branson as its public face.

Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox has a 39% share in Sky PLC. He was recently blocked from taking full ownership of Sky.

Quackster

With TV3 now owned by Virgin Media, and UTV and Setanta shortly by ITV and Eir respectively, I think the GAA and the other major Irish sports will be in a much stronger position next time out to sell their content on a free-to-air basis for good money and not have to rely on Sky to compete with RTE for the rights.

I think we can be fairly certain that from here on in, RTE will no longer be getting things their own way.

So it would be win-win for the GAA to adopt this motion from Kerry CB, reap the positive PR and suffer little or no financial loss as a consequence.

iDave

Why wasn't this motion raised when it was first sold to Setantas paywall?

ArmaniJeanss

munchkin_utd wrote: »

again a lot here are COMPLETELY missing the point. There is lots of GAA on TV, arguably too much.
This from Pauric Duffy from the congress last spring (and this is something that has been bubbling in the background from County and provinicial people for years)


http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/gaa-congress-p%C3%A1raic-duffy-says-number-of-televised-games-now-an-issue-1.2120865

I have said it before and you can read it from the comments above, if the sky deal gets the chop I would not be surprised in the least if the pay TV games simply get the chop and you go from 40FTA + 10 or so pay tv championship games to simply 40 FTA games, with a tendency over the next few packages to have less championship games on TV
People presume that if sky goes that there would be then 25% more games on FTA. I dont think that can be taken as a given.

Theres a certain beauty about the sky deal in that coverage on a Saturday evening is still there, but limited, which then means less effect on Saturday evening club games compared to having the 7pm games on RTE/ Tv3

Yep, Skys exclusive game were largely comprised of Saturday qualifiers, often double headers, which weren't shown at all (or very little) in the previous packages.

If those games get totally taken off air then it'll be no victory for the fta people, though they'll doubtless claim it as such.

howiya

iDave wrote: »

Why wasn't this motion raised when it was first sold to Setantas paywall?

Your man in Kerry already had Setanta

howiya

Heard that tonight's Dublin convention passed a similar motion

Xenophile

howiya wrote: »

Heard that tonight's Dublin convention passed a similar motion

That's good news.

Xenophile

Of course gaago should be allowed to continue for world wide viewers. Gaago is a good idea and I have no problem with the GAA raising revenue in this manner.

https://gaago.rte.ie/

munchkin_utd

(interview with GAA President)

Commenting on a Kerry call for all championship games to be shown free-to-air (effectively ending the deal with Sky at the end of next year), ó Fearghail said that he didn't think it would be an issue for Congress and would instead be dealt with by Central Council.

"One thing is certain. There certainly won't be more games shown on TV than is currently the case because our clubs would be seriously affected. I think we have the balance about right.

"TV coverage is very important but we have to decide what's the right amount. I'd be happy enough we're doing that.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/counties-step-up-fight-to-keep-u21-championship-34287349.html