Landmark ruling in favor of Irish pub sued for showing game live

[Hound]

Can't believe people are blaming RTE for this!!

It's the GAA who insist gaelic games on rte.ie are restricted to this island. The reason is because GAA sell the overseas right to other companies.

[Cosmo Kramer]

Can't believe people are blaming RTE for this!!

It's the GAA who insist gaelic games on rte.ie are restricted to this island. The reason is because GAA sell the overseas right to other companies.

I'm fairly sure nobody is blaming RTE for this - after all its not their fault, the blame lies with the GAA on this one.

I don't have an issue with the GAA selling televised content to stations overseas, obviously RTE cannot be picked up through traditional means and for some people TV and bars might be the only way for them to see games. However what the GAA sell is exclusive rights, meaning that RTE, TV3 and TG4 must geo-block their online content and given the reasoning behind the original establishment of the GAA and the meaning it has to hundreds of thousands of Irish overseas if not more, I think it is shocking that the GAA still profit in this way. They're basically saying once you're out of the country, we don't care anymore. Yes, there are ways around it, but there shouldn't need to be.

[Carmen Stateside]

available free to air on rte.ie around the world in the same way that it is in Ireland.

These people are not contributing to RTÉ, so why should they get free service?
There isn't any way of stopping it, but they are removing a source of revenue from the GAA.

Says the boyo from Armagh!

[armaghniac]

The GAA should show Irish games free to air to Irish people in Ireland. Let the American Board show American games free to air in the US if they want.

[tyssam5]

Glad to hear it, delighted that it is Eugene Rooney that won the case as well, had a great few days in his pub when Mayo went to NY in 2009.

Why should Setanta be allowed to gouge GAA supporters just because they have had to emigrate to a different country? Their cover charges are ridiculous. GAA, particularly championship, should be available free to air on rte.ie around the world in the same way that it is in Ireland. The GAA are also making a fast buck that they don't need at the expense of emigrants by selling the international viewing rights separately. It was one thing when technology limits meant that Setanta etc. were providing a service by allowing people to see a game when they otherwise wouldn't have been able to but with high speed broadband widely available this is no longer the case. The sooner the GAA sever all ties with those chancers the better - they serve nobody but themselves.

Well said. At one point the concept of being able to watch live championship games in America was probably worth the money and was a novel service. Purely a gouging exercise now and it was shame the GAA was not at the forefront in providing worldwide free coverage. Too many people in Croke Park probably referring to it as 'product' these days!

Only thing I miss is meeting people in the mornings for games in the pub, made a lot of good friends that way.

[tyssam5]

The GAA should show Irish games free to air to Irish people in Ireland. Let the American Board show American games free to air in the US if they want.

Nice bit of partitionism there.

[tyssam5]

It's not really RTÉ's fault that they block transmissions of GAA games outside Ireland, south & north, they are only complying with the rights they've been awarded to them so the matter rests with the GAA here. Though to be honest restricting the availability of games solely to viewing in pubs & clubs is a bit dated by now but having a look through Setanta's USA website it seems you can stream live matches as a PPV option which I suppose helps in a way, but still not quite as good as through your own TV. At least in Australia Setanta shows games live to domestic customers and you can subscribe with a variety of providers.

I'm not too sure about American law (except that quite often it can vary state by state in many cases) but while the pub in question was cleared of "satellite piracy" which technically couldn't be the case here, I wonder if they might have a case against them on the grounds of copyright? For a home viewer it would be unenforceable and probably perfectly legal in any case, but for public showing might be a different matter, especially when it appears that a local distributor (in this case, Premium Sports) exists.

The person re-broadcasting the signal from Dublin might be breaking Irish law. On The US side I think the likes of satellite copyright would be governed by fed and not state laws, so this is a nice precedent. Must make sure to give that pub some custom.

[DickyRock]

It's just like the pirating issues going on at the minute. When will content providers realise that the abuse of monopolies by setting high prices is not working. If enough people don't want to pay their prices then there is something wrong with their price/distribution method. They are dinosuars that will go extinct if they don't adapt to the technological world we now live in

[gortnaleck]

I watched the Club Final using Overplay but it was  stopping and starting all the time.
Do I need some type of upgrade to computer or what