PPV GAA

[thejuice]

Nicky Brennen said he's going to have talks with TV companies such as SKY and Setanta on the possiblility of PPV. Also RTE launched their Championship promo videos which can be viewed at www.rte.ie

[gander]

Dont aggree with this at all, GAA is supposed to be for every one.  Not every one has a sky box or a Setanta Subscription.  They're always on about trying to attract all the young people into the game, how are they going to do this if half the population cant watch a match?

[Tubberman]

Nicky Brennan has said that RTE can't cover every game live, due to other programming commitments.
So, presumably (and this is the main issue) any games to be covered on a PPV basis would only be those that the terrestrial channels could not cover.
In that case, the viewer is certainly not losing out on what is currently available.
Would need to see a full proposal before I could come down on one side or the other though

[cavan4ever]

I don't think its right to have PPV for amateur sport.   

[realredhandfan]

agreed PPV then go pay the fookin players. 

[Hardy]

I have mixed feelings about it. Of course the games should be as accessible as possible but an effect of that principle is to confer a monopoly on RTE. The result is that RTE seems to feel that since the GAA is amateur, the coverage should be amateurish, though we know the real reason for the tired, predictable and lazy approach is the lack of incentive to make it good.

Is it any coincidence that RTE's soccer coverage is better than all the others, their rugby, racing, etc. likewise up there with the best but their GAA coverage is appalling?

God it was depressing watching the fanfare and razzmatazz on the news last night announcing effectively that their championship coverage was going to be more of the same. The group shot of muppets, with Spillane depressingly front and centre again, was an eerie parallel to the election stuff that's going on – like a Fianna Fáil photocall, without the intelligence, forward thinking, freshness and excitement that you'd associate with Fianna Fáil!

[robertemmet]

what they will do is have all the top games on PPV and the others will be on RTE.

GAA is all about money, they don't care about anything else.

[Hardy]

what they will do is have all the top games on PPV and the others will be on RTE.

GAA is all about money, they don't care about anything else.

Who gets the money? I think we should know. Lets have a public enquiry. Feckit, no. Let's go the whole hog and ring Joe Duffy.

[fearglasmor]

Another step on the road to pay for play, and the charge down this road is not being led by the GPA, but by the top brass in the GAA.
It simply isn't possible to argue against rewarding players when professionalism permeates every other sector of inter county GAA.

Of course the current intercounty structures can't support professionalism, but that too will change in time.
A few years ago Liam Mulvihill spoke about the clubs returning to the primacy they had before county representation came in. It could be that what he was thinking about was a professional club structure which would be more likely to be sustainable.

Is it unimaginable that in time this could be the way forward ?

[GalwayBayBoy]

Sky have just got rid of their PPV football games.

[Smokin Joe]

Sky have just got rid of their PPV football games.

That's because they lost the packages where the PPV games came from to Setanta, they had no choice!!!!!

[GalwayBayBoy]

Sky have just got rid of their PPV football games.

That's because they lost the packages where the PPV games came from to Setanta, they had no choice!!!!!

I know that.

[westmayo]

RTE seem to uping their championship coverage signficantly this year,


By Sean Moran from todays Times

GAELIC GAMES/Championship TV Coverage: GAA President Nickey Brennan has called on RTÉ to bear in mind the sensibilities of players when analysing matches. His comments came at yesterday's launch of the broadcaster's championship schedules, which will be the most extensive yet transmitted.

Speaking at the event in Croke Park, Brennan said: "Players can have an off day and things can go pear shaped on them. That has to be taken into account. They have to go to work the next day. So while critical analysis is fair and reasonable, I think the person's integrity must always be kept in mind."

He went on to offer to brief the RTÉ panellists on various matters relevant to playing rules and regulations.

"We want to make sure that you're working from a position of knowledge and fact. If you need assistance or presentations we will do that. You must have the facts and I don't mind saying that there are times when I cringe when I hear some comments being made because they're factually incorrect. All we're asking for is balance and I'm sure we're going to get that in the year ahead."

Launching the coverage, RTÉ's group head of sport Glen Killane, said that it would bring "more matches, more choice across media and more innovation".

This will include a new statistics package and new personnel. The Sunday Game will have two new hurling panellists. Kilkenny's multiple All-Ireland winner DJ Carey and former Clare captain and manager Anthony Daly will join the programme's team of analysts.

Evanne Ní Chuilinn and Joanne Cantwell will join the team of television and radio sideline reporters.

Now in its 29th year The Sunday Game will broadcast over 50 matches live and for the first time will have cameras at every championship and qualifier match, including relatively peripheral fixtures involving New York and London.

There will also be a football documentary about Kerry and the place of the game in the county's culture.

Every championship match will be simultaneously streamed live on the internet and a highlights package on will be available every week on line.

All commentaries will be broadcast on the web and a new, interactive radio programme, presented by Con Murphy, will go out between six and seven o'clock.

There will also be an experimental, high definition television live broadcast in July.

The current round of broadcast rights expires after next year's National Leagues. Negotiations are likely to get under way at the end of this year. "The process begins with us outlining our requirements in a tender document," according to Brennan. "At the moment we're getting our head around the various packages that will be on offer."

Two years ago for the first time, the GAA allocated live rights to a subscription channel when Setanta secured the deal for Saturday night NFL matches. Asked had there been any interest expressed by Sky, Brennan was non-committal but said that the association would willingly talk to any broadcaster.

"I haven't heard that but at the outset of these type of discussions you can't exclude anybody from them if they've expressed an interest. The more widespread the coverage for our games the better so we have to see what these people have to say."

Commenting on hostile reactions to the Setanta deal, some of which were expressed at last month's congress, Brennan said the departure had overall been positive. He also said that there were other considerations besides the money on offer.

"It's not all revenue related. To me the quality of the coverage is just as important as the finance. We've been using Setanta, our first venture into pay-per-view or whatever terminology you want to use.

"We would say generally it has been pretty successful and a very worthwhile venture for us. We now have to decide should that be continued or expanded.

"A lot more homes have access to pay-per-view tv now so although many people have very strong views and would be anti the notion I think from the association's point of view we are correct to explore new markets and technologies and we would be failing if we didn't do that.

"The number of cameras being used and their physical location in grounds is an issue. Not all of the games would attract a full house so it's important that cameras aren't facing into barren and empty spaces and the viewer thinking there's nobody at the match when there might still have been thousands but the main camera wasn't picking them up."

[Fuzzman]

Slippery Road lads Slippery Road! 

If they let them in the door for a few matches then they'll see how much money they can make as suddenly RTE have lost it.
Look at the soccer and Heneikin cup rugby games. Sure if you dont have sky or go to the pub now then ye'd see very little soccer.

As usual its the punters ourselves who dont realise basic Economics that Consumer is King and if we dont buy it then its not profitable.
If we dont go to the pub then they wont bother buying the licence to show it and it will return to Terrestrial.
But people want everything NOW and HANDY and fall for all the Jazzy ads, special camera angles and player cams etc.

Most people have email now at home and at work so I say Lettuce show them the power of the consumer and of EMAIL and lets all bombard the thesundaygame@rte.ie
with thousands of emails saying we pay your wages so
WE DONT wanna hear that Ugly Whinging Kerry F**KER messing up a good program.
WE DONT wanna listen to Brolly interrupt every other speaker.
WE DONT wanna see NO CHIN Marty New Suit & tie Morrissey interview Paddy Ni Braino talk about the price of calves in Cavan.
Can we not get descent commentators that know who's who. (Last week Ger Canning kept calling Donegal - Armagh) like Darragh Maloney.
I'm tired listening to Tony Davis agreeing with everyone else and licking Spillane's a$$ even though he hates Kerry



Can you imagine the uproar in the papers if people power ousted these half wits from the high paid jobs just cos we stood up and spoke ouir minds

Come on Tom Humphries, lets see what the real media can achieve and give the people what they want.

Rant over 

[thejuice]

Well High definition is always cool. and hopefully the online broadcasts will be extended to out side Ireland. But i agree with Fuzzman. Some of the RTE personel really dont have a clue how to present, Spillane is like some over-entusiastic farmer that you'd run into in a pub, Martin Carney is just about the worst commentator in any sport ever. Michael O'Muireheartaigh is legendary however. Wouldnt do without him.