GAA TV Rights 2023 on - Sky out, Saturday league games to RTE/TG4, Some C’ship games on GAA Go

System

This discussion was created from comments split from: BT Sport/Premier Sports.

roadmaster

GAA and Sky have gone there seperate ways. Could we see the new BT/Eurosport channel bid for next yeara rights?

lertsnim

Hopefully not. I would prefer if TG4 or Virgin Media had them.

icdg

I doubt it to be honest, it’ll be interesting to see what happens there but the moving of the GAA season earlier in the year (so that it now clashes with the business end of the football season) probably did it in for Sky more than anything else. The value of GAA for them was retaining Irish subs though the summer and the GAA made it not worth their while.

Most likely they will go to VMTV or TG4.

roadmaster

BBC NI are getting more games so at least we will get that.

I would imagine GAA will want to keep matches shown on Uk/International tv so we might even see a streaming service pick up some games.

It appears Sky wanted league games as well

lertsnim

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119788026#Comment_119788026

Premier Sports already show games in the UK and have done long before Sky had rights.

icdg

I wonder if that will continue under Viaplay though, you could imagine the bosses in Stockholm wondering what this GAA business is and why they should be spending money on it. O’Rourke and Ryan knew the GAA and built their company on showing the Sunday Game in the U.K. but Premier were forced to block their GAA coverage on the Premier Player because it was deemed to compete with GAA GO. It maybe a case of “thank you for your service, we’ll take it from here now”.

System

This discussion was created from comments split from: BT Sport/Premier Sports.

roadmaster

Could the GAA leave the FTA package as it is and instead of Skys package and Premiers league package being sold put it on a bigger GAAGo package and keep the advertising and payments for themselfs.

Would they make more money that way or would a broadcaster always work out better?

icdg

I don’t think it could be the same package to be honest. Maybe they will have a bigger role for GAA GO: but I think while a camera and a commentator might do the job for a league game in February I think a provincial final or quarter final game would demand a fully produced presentation with pre and post game analysis. Maybe my expectations are too high on that front perhaps.

Surprised that league games were a factor tbh. There’s a gap to fill eir Sport’s shoes, RTE has picked up some of the gap but they are not showing as many games as eir did.

roadmaster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119788748#Comment_119788748

The league would be ideal for virgin with all there channels they could show two games at the same time the way Eir use to

thomasking22008

And would be interested see dazn plan to bid Gaa broadcasting?

icdg

I hope not. To be fair they have their niche as the new BoxNation and have been mostly sticking to it. I doubt it even interests them. The GAA would probably mention Amazon, but everyone does. I personally would be surprised if it goes outside the existing players and VMTV, but there are now two gaps to be filled (Sky and eir).

channelsurfer2

I doubt VMTV will come in for them but you never know. The sky rights would be in the region of 3m to 5 million per year if I recall from the last rights auction(although never officially announced any monetary term and am open to correction)

That leaves GAAGO with having to get an awful lot of subscriptions to just break even. GAA HQ are probably not ready to risk giving a pay tv provider more rights than what they have hence sky walking away.

roadmaster

Looks Like GAAGo is going to be expanded. If the package was good enoght i could see it being a big Christmass present seller

https://m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/gaa/sky-sports-and-gaa-part-ways-as-bbc-prepares-for-gb-expansion-42092335.html

icdg

I think the league games for Sky thing is an excuse tbh, and the GAA had no problem with Setanta/eir having pay-TV rights for up to three games for over a decade (appreciate that for a lot of that period Setanta Ireland was a basic cable channel).

Incidentally with it now clear that Premier Sports in Ireland is going its separate ways from the U.K. operation I wonder if they might get the old Saturday league rights that Setanta and eir once had. Mind you the Independent version of that article (which is slightly different from their Bel Tel stablemate) is saying those rights “could” go to TG4. They are also ruling out VMTV.

https://m.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/bbc-set-to-step-in-as-sky-and-gaa-part-ways-over-new-tv-rights-deal-42092422.html

Statement from the GAA re the 2023-2027 rights:

https://www.gaa.ie/news/gaa-broadcast-statement-2023-2027/

Statement from RTE:

https://www.rte.ie/sport/football/2022/1025/1331313-rte-announces-expanded-gaa-rights-deal/

And the BBC:

https://www.bbc.com/sport/gaelic-games/63377924

The BBC seem to be putting a fair bit on the iPlayer. 10 matches of the Allianz Leagues for instance. Will these be restricted to NI & UK only I wonder? Currently you can watch GAA & NI soccer league highlights clips on the BBC Sports NI website.

icdg

OK, so to break things down:

RTE: Retains the rights to 31 Championship matches, gains some Saturday league games (shared with TG4) and club games.

BBC: Retains the rights to 8 Ulster SFC games, gains the All-Ireland semi finals and finals in both codes, to be shown in NI on BBC Two and nationally on iPlayer, one of the finals to be shown nationally on a linear BBC channel. Also 10 Allianz League games on iPlayer. (And will they be geoblocked? Undoubtably).

TG4: Retains all of its current rights and gains a share of Saturday night League games.

So basically the old eir Sport league package is divided between RTE and TG4 and the Sky games, it seems, go mostly to GAAGO. So the irony for those lambasting Sky Sports as “pay per view” (it’s not); well now we are going to have GAA championship games actually on a pay per view service. If it’s the same package Sky had that may include quarter final games.

Oh and poor show Premier Sports. Their first acquisition after the sale of the U.K. operation and the best they get is what very much looks like the return of “eir Sport Classic”.

landofthetree

Streaming is crap to watch hurling on. Ok for football.

icdg

I neglected to mention we get The Saturday Game highlights show, which I suppose is a trade off for losing Saturday night live Championship games I guess.

roadmaster

I wonder why Virgin did not even through there hat in the Game for the league games.

Is it because they sre trying to sell or dont have the budget?

RoTelly

You can take a subscription to GAA GO (you can take out weekly subs for Sky Sports on NOW TV), but I think we should look at the fact that is a much better deal just by having one of the finals on FTA TV in Britain.

Sky's coverage outside of their rights to GAA was abysmal.

IMO RTÉ should be aiming to merge GAA GO and its URC TV service, indeed it should have been something to aim for with LOI TV also. All of which should aim to be available on Sky, VMTV and NOW as streaming apps.

icdg

They can’t really though, because neither the GAA or URC want to. RTE is a 50% shareholder for GAAGO but what their revenue share, if any, of URC TV is not public. Either way it would need to own both outright to merge them.

This article is very good by the way. Somewhat appropriately, it’s behind the Irish Times paywall, but may be of interest to those with access. Lays bare the hypocrisy when it comes to RTE’s part. The Sky paywall was a bad deal for consumers (remember they even devoted an episode of Prime Time to how terrible it was?!?!) but the GAAGO paywall is a brave new step forward for the Association. The difference? RTE gets a 50% cut of the latter.

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/2022/10/27/ciaran-murphy-hard-to-see-new-gaa-media-deal-being-a-good-one-for-the-consumer/

RoTelly

GAA, URC and LOI are mad not to want to provide their games on one platform, with one pay for plan available to ex-pats and the world.

icdg

GAAGo fixture list, early bird deal for €59 before new years eve.

https://www.gaa.ie/news/gaago-ie-to-stream-38-exclusive-gaa-championship-matches-in-2023/

roadmaster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120000296#Comment_120000296

If you can download the app on to a smart tv i will defo buy it as it is very good value and the studio team are not to bad.

icdg

From what I can make there’s no native smart TV app - not Fire TV either - though Chromecast and Airplay are supported. Android TV people who are tech savvy might get the Android app working.

Tigerandahalf

I can't see this working well.

A big part of these online platforms working is at most 2 or 3 clicks before you bring up a live stream.

I had Now tv working on my LG tv. It no longer works after support was removed for older tvs. Mine is only 5 years or so old. It worked well, accessed easily from one device, my tv remote.

Now I have to have my phone at hand to use chromecast, then change the hdmi source and then have a stream that is 20 secs or slower than my phone or the LG tv app. Anyone else in the house also needs a phone to access it.

Just not going to bring in an audience.

If GAA GO was put on the rte player and allowed one to subscribe that way it would be much better, but rte are well behind the times.

roadmaster

There seams to he mixed information on the gaa go website. Its says streaming via chromecast to TV but then in a different part of the website it says a Totally New App for devices and TV.

Is there any chance they have an app coming for tvs?

lertsnim

If there isn't a TV app then I won't be bothering with it so it would be nice if they could announce that before New Years Eve.

callaway92

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120028191#Comment_120028191

I'd be shocked if they put in the resources to have a dedicated app created for TVs. Lot of time/resources needed to go into that. Most major leagues in the world don't have one, so I can't see GAA Go being an anomaly in that sense

icdg

Despite what the GAA seem to believe, a major league selling such a large chunk of its rights to its own in house service in its domestic market is basically unheard of. The games the US leagues (particularly the NFL) give to their in house channels/services in the US are basically the scraps and are only there at all to ensure the in house networks get cable carriage. No major football (soccer that is) league has gone down this route in their domestic market either. It’s a risky move for the GAA and I suspect it wouldn’t have happened if negotiations with Sky hadn’t fallen through.

callaway92

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120029006#Comment_120029006

Nail on head with the above.

This was a big hit (negatively) for GAA to lose the Sky rights. The big money is in selling rights still. Almost a guarantee they’ll be running at a loss with the GAA Go stuff, so that’s why I’d expect a gradual stripping down of quality of broadcast from initial matches to later in the season

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120029006#Comment_120029006

The GAA tournaments are not "major leagues" and are no way comparable to the multi million viewer soccer and American leagues

Dodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120029006#Comment_120029006

The other point to make about the NFL Network deal is that a) it’s a full time broadcast channel, it doesn’t pop up just for the games and b) the games have to be carried on terrestrial channels in local markets

But as has been said, comparing the NFL to the GAA is insane

icdg

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120031431#Comment_120031431

In context. They are the biggest player in the Irish sports scene with the overall biggest gate.

Of course no league in Europe, let alone in Ireland, is ever going to be comparable to the NFL. It’s the biggest sporting league revenues wise in the world. It’s also the biggest sport in a country of 300 million people. The Premier League and Champions League are the only European leagues that even come close. I didn’t intend to say otherwise and I’m not sure where that is coming from.

Sure the GAA is a minnow in the global sporting scene. It doesn’t pretend to be otherwise. But it is the only game in town in hundreds of towns and villages up and down this country. It is the biggest sporting organisation in Ireland. If it isn’t a major league in an Irish context, what is? Not the League of Ireland anyway, and the URC is a cross border competition with just four Irish clubs.

The point is, show me the comparable sporting organisation that has “sold” a substantial chunk of its domestic rights to an in house service on an exclusive basis. Chose an organisation with comparable revenues to the GAA, if you like, but occupies a similar position to it in its domestic market.

roadmaster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120028474#Comment_120028474

They might suprise us. I hope they do as i just bought it!

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120031792#Comment_120031792

It doesn't matter if the GAA is the "biggest in town" that doesn't change it's tiny viewing figures.

Dodge

Exactly. TV revenue for all sports in Ireland is tiny. Nearly every major/professional league depends on them throughout the world but it’s not applicable here for a variety of reasons

LOI TV made a profit for clubs last year fwiw but the broadcast costs were kept down to a minimum. first year was a GAA Go run system (with RTE) but they went solo (contracted out) in 2022

roadmaster

I bought the GAA go season ticket but i cant seam to access any content does it only kick in January?

icdg

Not till April.

roadmaster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120041089#Comment_120041089

I should have read the small print, i taught there would be access to the docs and past games

icdg

RTE announce coverage:

https://www.rte.ie/sport/football/2023/0122/1350120-hurley-to-front-the-sunday-game-as-rte-name-new-pundits/

Jacqui Hurley, to no one’s great surprise, takes over the Sunday Game evening show, Damien Lalor will present the new Saturday Game evening show.

I wonder will RTE ever do away with the distinction between the Sunday Game and League Sunday. Aside from different sponsors and title sequences they are now basically the same show with the same on air talent - the days when Sunday Sport (as it used to be called) came from a broom cupboard with no analysis and aired post 11pm are long gone. Not this season it seems at any rate - next Saturday’s opener, Mayo v Galway, is still billed as “Saturday GAA Live” rather than “The Saturday Game Live”

lertsnim

Is she still going to do the rugby coverage now?

Monaghan v Armagh in Div 1 is to be shown on the BBC iplayer this weekend. Wonder will they block it in the South, considering that a Southern county is involved?

icdg

Every last thing on the iPlayer is blocked in ROI, not sure how one match would be singled out to be different. It’s a pity but something the BBC is very precious about unfortunately.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120147917#Comment_120147917

True. I can see Monaghan people who can’t go to the game being a bit peeved about this when their neighbours literally just up the road in Armagh will be able to watch it!

Just a further query here. Does anybody know whether RTE’s GAA coverage has been blocked in the past for those with an NI Sky sub or who are getting RTE from the terrestrial NI mux? If it hasn’t, this would set a new precedent where GAA TV coverage has been determined by the border. Mightn’t go down well with those who see the GAA as a 32 county body.

lertsnim

It was accidentally blocked last year for a game I think but RTE has all island rights to the games so it shouldn't have happened.

RTÉ should be allowed to show these iPlayer games online at least.

Digifriendly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120147917#Comment_120147917

Can you explain what you mean by blocked out? Surely you cannot use iPlayer in the first place unless you have a UK ISP or use a VPN?

icdg

Thats exactly what I mean, you need to have a U.K. IP to view any content on iPlayer, they’re not targeting ROI specifically. I understand the reasoning of course but it’s especially annoying because it’s also quite clear that BBC now own the ROI rights to many of their shows. Witness the deal over Doctor Who recently where the BBC retained the full rights in ROI and it’s not covered by the Disney+ deal.