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Post by fenit67 on Apr 2, 2014 22:04:12 GMT
In response to seamo I am not Mystic Meg, well at least I think I'm not! What I am is not worried about the deal that the GAA have done with Sky. I have yet to see a properly reasoned argument against the deal. What I have witnessed is nothing short of hysteria. Had Sky not made a successful bid then TV3 would have continued its coverage but it is likely that the GAA have been swayed by how Sky presents its current sporting offer.
This is not a challenge but I think posters should put up proper arguments for and against rather than errant ramblings interspersed with hearsay and anecdotes. The GAA like any sport has to compete and for that it needs to make its presence felt and it has decided to trial Sky's services for 3 years. Rugby Union, Rugby League, Cricket and of course football have benefitted from their association with Sky so I ask why can't the GAA?
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Post by Sons of Pitches on Apr 2, 2014 22:59:02 GMT
Once the Sky deal is up in 3 years UTV Ireland will be up and running and will no doubt want a piece of the action.
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Post by tyroneperson on Apr 2, 2014 23:04:18 GMT
I'd be surprised, UTV doesn't show much GAA. The BBC's been better in that respect in recent years though.
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Post by sullyschoice on Apr 3, 2014 11:55:48 GMT
Did anyone read the quotes from Marian Harkin MEP in todays examiner...
She says the GAA have a duty of care to people unable to afford Sky. She also said the GAA should consider paying the Sky fee for clubs and community halls AND provide transport to screenings.
What planet is she living on. If she is so concerned about people maybe she should give them a lift to the pub.
You would never guess there is an election this summer
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Post by Seoirse Ui Duic on Apr 3, 2014 12:01:20 GMT
Did anyone read the quotes from Marian Harkin MEP in todays examiner... She says the GAA have a duty of care to people unable to afford Sky. She also said the GAA should consider paying the Sky fee for clubs and community halls AND provide transport to screenings. What planet is she living on. If she is so concerned about people maybe she should give them a lift to the pub. You would never guess there is an election this summer Too bad she's not my type otherwise I would take her offer of a lift to free screenings. Maybe she would like to drive me to the actual game in Ballybofey (if we're unlucky with the draw against Donegal next year) from Carrigaline as she is so concerned about me not being able to see the game as Sky nor RTE might not broadcast it.
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Post by Seoirse Ui Duic on Apr 3, 2014 12:04:34 GMT
The GAA has come under further attack for its decision to sell broadcasting rights to Sky Sports with claims people on low incomes and particularly the elderly will be sidelined from enjoying key matches.
Outraged fans took to the airwaves yesterday to vent their fury, with some going as far as to say the health of their elderly loved ones would be damaged by the decision.
Politicians also joined the fray, with Fianna Fáil spokesman on sports, Timmy Dooley, saying he too was concerned older people would suffer over the deal.
“For many these games are the focal point of their weekend, and now they will be forced to either pay for a subscription or go to a pub to watch these matches.
“People are already under pressure with high taxes and reduced salaries and many will find it next to impossible to find an additional €64 a month to pay for a Sky subscription.”
Independent MEP Marian Harkin said as an organisation sustained by voluntary effort, the GAA had a duty of care to people unable to afford Sky.
“Older people in particular who cannot get to games, and children who should not be required to go to a pub to view GAA games, must be provided with the opportunity to view all televised GAA games,” she said.
She said the GAA should consider paying the Sky fee for clubs and community halls and provide transport to screenings.
Labour Party MEP Emer Costello said she would ask Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte to stop more games being lost to pay-per-view by using the European Audio Visual Services Directive to designate certain events as free-to-air.
Sky Sports costs €36 per month or €432 per year but to obtain it, viewers also have to have a general Sky TV package, the cheapest of which is €28 per month. So for a customer subscribing for the first time, the annual cost is €768.
Age Action spokesman Eamon Timmins said the cost was out of the question for many.
“We would be concerned for older people. Television is a very important support for them, particularly people who are housebound, and the GAA is very close to their hearts.”
Sports Minister Leo Varadkar acknowledged the concerns and said it would be important to know how the money from the Sky deal would be spent.
“What I think would be of reassurance to fans and the general public would be some indication as to how the GAA is to spend the money they are going to get,” he said. “I’d like to see that filter down to clubs and players as well.”
GAA president Liam O’Neill said Sky’s coverage would open up GAA to a global audience.
© Irish Examiner Ltd. All rights reserved
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seamo
Fanatical Member
Posts: 2,016
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Post by seamo on Apr 3, 2014 17:21:27 GMT
In response to seamo I am not Mystic Meg, well at least I think I'm not! What I am is not worried about the deal that the GAA have done with Sky. I have yet to see a properly reasoned argument against the deal. What I have witnessed is nothing short of hysteria. Had Sky not made a successful bid then TV3 would have continued its coverage but it is likely that the GAA have been swayed by how Sky presents its current sporting offer. This is not a challenge but I think posters should put up proper arguments for and against rather than errant ramblings interspersed with hearsay and anecdotes. The GAA like any sport has to compete and for that it needs to make its presence felt and it has decided to trial Sky's services for 3 years. Rugby Union, Rugby League, Cricket and of course football have benefitted from their association with Sky so I ask why can't the GAA? What are your arguments for it? All you seem to do is brush off other people's views by labeling them "errant ramblings". Dismissal by throwing stones isn't you providing a counter-argument, it's merely childish, don't fool yourself by thinking otherwise. I for one certainly am not getting hysterical, as I have said before I will be making use of Sky's GAA service, given that RTE and TV3 have let down those outside of Ireland who would like to watch the games/highlights. The arguments have been put out there about this being a further step away from the amateur ethos of the GAA, as well as the likely conflict of interests now existent within the GAA when it comes to the club game v's the now even greater money spinning intercounty game. Those are some of the valid arguments/points made by those against it. I don't expect you or anyone else to counter those arguments because yee have had the past ~3 days to do so and instead choose to simply resort to name calling.....so lets all just move on now because no matter what anyone says here, the deal is done now and isn't going to be reversed so roll on the GAA on Sky!! lol
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Post by jigsawpuzzle on Apr 3, 2014 20:20:15 GMT
I'm not sure how I feel about the whole thing.
Genuine Gripe- that this affects the elderly. Yup, I'd agree with that. Most elderly people, lifelong patrons, are being alienated here. The GAA are asking a lot of them, and maybe its not the right way to treat them.
Polluting the game- we're a long way from professionalism but people in this country still see GAA players as God's, model citizens. A lot of them aren't, especially county players. Even underage players. People pretend they are. Sky coming in didn't suddenly corrupt football, it just made its players more high profile. Love the sports by all means but dont pretend our boys are without fault!
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Post by fenit67 on Apr 3, 2014 20:36:35 GMT
Treat the Sky deal for what it is; a financial transaction. If it is in the interests of both the GAA and Sky to further their collaboration then they will. The deal is good for the GAA as it has the potential to provide more income, certainly the games will gain more exposure and competition for future rights will increase. The other points raised concerning amateur ethos and club v county are separate arguments. The notion that RTE and TV3 ever did anything for expats is very debatable apart from RTE's radio broadcasts.
Seamo please don't ever again amalgamate my opinions with those of others as you essayed with this "because yee have had the past ~3 days to do so and instead choose to simply resort to name calling"; I am not yee (sic) and I did not resort to name-calling. I have not been disparaging to others but I have expressed surprise at the amount of feeling against this deal. Using phrases such as "errant ramblings" or "nothing short of hysteria" were employed to express my surprise further.
I believe in the GAA's amateur ethos but does this extend to the association's salaried members and manager payments? How will the association handle the very grey area of inter-county players living almost as professionals whilst receiving little in return yet being expected to uphold the amateur ethos? This deal has caused us all to look at the GAA in a new light and the GAA, the executive and each and every member, will need to decide where the association goes from here.
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Post by lár na páirce on Apr 3, 2014 20:56:33 GMT
Myths about the Sky deal
1. Its for the Irish abroad 2. The Money Sky are pumping in
1.
The Irish in the UK have had access through Pay TV with Premier Sports Sky this year will show 20 live games
Premier Sports will show over 50 games with 26 championship games
There are 3 million houses in the UK with Sky Sports
If the GAA really wanted to make the games accessible to the diaspora why not do a deal with ITV4 or BBC3 or one of the other dozen free to air channels in the UK which would reach over 20 million homes.
Couldnt see any of the there schedules being too busy at 3 o clock on a Sunday,The Murder She Wrote repeat could be put back an hour
The deal with Australian TV has nothing to do with SKY and the coverage in the USA is with Premier Sports.
2.
Word on the street is Sky paid €1.5 million more than what TV3 were offering
1.5 mil is a very small amount of money to the GAA when you consider the upset this has caused throughout the membership
The various concerts in Croker this year are bringing in over 5 million,Where the GAA that cash strapped?
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Post by Mickmack on Apr 4, 2014 7:09:46 GMT
IRISH TIMES
The GAA’s deal with Sky TV may not warrant an outraged reaction, but it does merit serious scrutiny and raises legitimate issues of concern for GAA members.
Not all GAA members, of course. There will doubtless be many among the Association’s rank and file who will delight in the deal and welcome the prospects of additional revenues and a Sky-style shake-up of Gaelic games coverage.
But there will also be a substantial body of opinion which will feel distinctly uneasy about a deal which not only jettisons a long-established policy, but which, in its effects, will almost certainly conflict with values the GAA routinely invokes to assert the uniqueness of its contribution to Irish life. What has happened this week is certainly a radical departure for the GAA.
For all that that they have attempted to downplay the number of games wrapped in the Sky package of rights, this is no gentle toe-dip by the Association into pay-per-view waters; it is a straightforward plunge. RTE’s quota of championship fixtures may remain intact, but TV3 have been cleared from the pitch to make way for the pay TV provider who will have exclusive rights to just under one third of all live championship games.
Occasional kite-flying exercises aside (usually calculated to leverage additional revenues from existing rights holders), the GAA has now gone where it has repeatedly said it wouldn’t go.
Back in 1997, at a time when the GAA had already begun to relax its rules on the sponsorship and broadcasting of its competitions, then president, Jack Boothman, told delegates to Annual Congress that “the GAA can never in conscience decide to sell television rights to any media provider who will be widely available throughout the country and which will not be national in character. We are not going to sell our people down the river for money”.
As recently as last year, it appeared as if nothing much had changed when GAA director general Páraic Duffy, as decent and committed a man as has held that rarefied office, talked to journalist Michael Moynihan for his book, Gaaconomics . He was equally adamant that a flight from free-to-air was not on the horizon.
Stay relevant “With our TV we’re constrained, rightly, because we wouldn’t get away with selling the rights to the championship to Sky Sports or somebody like that,” he told Moynihan, adding, “I could go out tomorrow and Sky will offer us four or five time what RTÉ are offering, but I know if I came back to management with that, the organisation would say to me, ‘Get out of here. We’re not doing that’.
Any organisation, of course, is entitled to change its mind, to alter its course. Indeed, to stay relevant, it often has no choice. The GAA is no stranger to shifting strategy and has done so frequently over the decades, not least in the hugely successful manner in which it has expanded its commercial operations.
But in this, as in other major strategic initiatives, the progression of policy has always been directed in way that has shored up its social ascendancy and strengthened its underlying values – values which emphasise community, inclusivity, participation and access.
It’s for this reason the GAA’s Sky deal strikes a discordant note. Whatever about the undoubted strengths they will bring to Gaelic games coverage, the Sky sports experience has been shown to fracture community, not to cement it.
There is no ambiguity around this. The evidence is clear-cut. As UCD historian Paul Rouse emphasised this week, the moving of sport from free-to-air to pay-per-view has been proven not only to reduce overall audiences but to divide viewers into those who can and can’t pay.
One striking example cited was that of Heineken Cup rugby, which moved from free-to-air to subscription television between 2006 and 2007. In both years, Leinster contested Heineken Cup quarter-finals, though the audience for their games plummeted from 255,000 (on RTÉ) to 47,000 (on Sky).
Social groupings Ireland’s Heineken Cup example, which is mirrored in other countries and for other codes, also shows how the loss of free-to-air coverage impacts disproportionately on a range of specific social groupings.
The lessons of all this for GAA members and followers are not difficult to grasp.
If you’re poor or from a rural background, then it’s far less likely you’ll be accessing Gaelic games on Sky television. If you’re elderly, a farmer, a child or a woman, the same holds true. And for those of you who do watch, children included, you’re far more likely to do so in a pub than at home.
None of this is debatable, yet it appears to have weighed little on the GAA’s decision-making, even though it quite obviously undercuts a range of other social initiatives for which the Association should be quite rightly acclaimed, be it the programme to target social marginalisation in rural areas or that to reduce the exposure of its younger members to alcohol environments.
So why was the decision taken? Since Tuesday, the GAA has made much of their concern with catering to the legitimate and necessary needs of Ireland’s emigrants. But a deal with Sky was hardly required to do that – a point underscored by the provision of a new online streaming service for overseas audiences in the very same rights package.
Broaden appeal There’s been some talk too of using Sky to broaden appeal beyond the diaspora, but surely any plan to internationalise Gaelic games is required to be fore-grounded by a much deeper, and wide-ranging debate across the Association. What should such a plan involve and is it even desirable? If it is, how should it be resourced and where could it be effectively targeted? One thing is for certain, however – exposure is not the same as development.
Most likely, of course, none of these were overriding factors in the GAA’s siding with Sky. This was, above all else, a commercial decision, albeit one that appears unchecked by reference to wider obligations.
Indeed, for many GAA members, it is this that will rankle as much as the loss of free-to-air access to some of the forthcoming championship games.
One of the things that has most distinguished the GAA and set it apart from all other major sporting organisations has been the brilliant balancing of its commercial ambitions with broader social and cultural objectives.
However, given what we know about how pay TV works and how it will limit audiences and disadvantage those without the means to afford it, it’s hard to suppress a sense that, on this occasion, the GAA has got the balance badly wrong.
In the long run, the price paid may be more than the money won.
n Mark Duncan is a GAA member and co-author of The GAA: A People’s History
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Post by Annascaultilidie on Apr 4, 2014 7:53:20 GMT
That is a fairly persuasive argument... did Setanta have any C'ship games?
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Post by fenit67 on Apr 4, 2014 9:32:59 GMT
It is indeed a good argument put forward by Mark Duncan. I said that I don't have a problem with this deal and my opinion has not changed the main reason being that the deal is for 3 years. During the term the GAA and the public will be able to determine if it worth continuing with or not. My fellow posters may agree, or not, but this avenue would have been explored sooner or later to see if it would be good or bad. Now at least that will become a reality and it is up to the GAA membership to decide. The next congress should be lively!
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Post by Seoirse Ui Duic on Apr 4, 2014 13:05:17 GMT
I've decided to try sky sports and I'm very impressed with their super rugby coverage though I have yet to watch a South African team play. I assume they will have some saffers in he commentary box for that. Another thing is also noticeable though: many antipodeans complain that ticket prices have gone up and attendances down. There's very few games sold out now and the stadiums are not much bigger than those in the pro 12. If I have to fork out a lot of money to watch Gaelic games it means I won't be able to afford traveling to too many games anymore and I expect the same is true for a lot of us.
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Post by glengael on Apr 4, 2014 13:54:32 GMT
Did anyone read the quotes from Marian Harkin MEP in todays examiner... She says the GAA have a duty of care to people unable to afford Sky. She also said the GAA should consider paying the Sky fee for clubs and community halls AND provide transport to screenings. What planet is she living on. If she is so concerned about people maybe she should give them a lift to the pub. You would never guess there is an election this summer On the same note I was initially surprised at the silence on this issue from the Kilgarvan direction. Then again,anything that brings people into the pubs..........
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Post by Annascaultilidie on Apr 4, 2014 14:13:40 GMT
Did anyone read the quotes from Marian Harkin MEP in todays examiner... She says the GAA have a duty of care to people unable to afford Sky. She also said the GAA should consider paying the Sky fee for clubs and community halls AND provide transport to screenings. What planet is she living on. If she is so concerned about people maybe she should give them a lift to the pub. You would never guess there is an election this summer On the same note I was initially surprised at the silence on this issue from the Kilgarvan direction. Then again,anything that brings people into the pubs.......... Nail on Head.
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Post by Seoirse Ui Duic on Apr 4, 2014 15:35:58 GMT
Did anyone read the quotes from Marian Harkin MEP in todays examiner... She says the GAA have a duty of care to people unable to afford Sky. She also said the GAA should consider paying the Sky fee for clubs and community halls AND provide transport to screenings. What planet is she living on. If she is so concerned about people maybe she should give them a lift to the pub. You would never guess there is an election this summer On the same note I was initially surprised at the silence on this issue from the Kilgarvan direction. Then again,anything that brings people into the pubs.......... Can we drive home after?
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Post by Mickmack on Apr 6, 2014 12:56:41 GMT
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Post by Ballyfireside on Apr 6, 2014 14:39:52 GMT
The GAA must guard it's amateur status and The Sky High Charge shows contempt towards that looming threat. Pay per view opens the furrow for pay per play and we are now motoring down the road of No mon no fun. It isn't too late and I think a deal should be negotiated whereby an RTE license enables one to see all GAA games. If the mistake was started with Setanta then that could also now be corrected. I am not a media expert but don't Man United have their own TV station, is it global? Could RTE be extended accordingly? There are 70m of us in the world to connect to and Sky realise that, do we? Is this what The Gathering was really about? Half the GAA conversation is now about how to see the game and in some cases why it was not possible. For an organisation built by the poor man who lined the field on a cold winters evening or the woman who washed the club jerseys by hand, it is abandonment in it's purest form. That it is of the older generation is even sadder. Abdication of it's status as the greatest community sports organisation in the world and which it held by a country mile. A lot of harm will be done in three years and there may be no turning back. Is that as good as we are? Is that the best we can do? Some illegal outfit can now stream our games but our faithful don't have the capability to watch. Back to the future it is!
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Post by glengael on Apr 6, 2014 17:27:40 GMT
I'd say RTE will be thrilled to be showing "Hector Goes GAA" this coming week. I know it was filmed months ago but talk about timing!!!!!
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Post by Ballyfireside on Apr 18, 2014 17:12:55 GMT
A few people have stated that 'it was Sky or nothing' and the GAA was forced to compromise. I believe we should bring this anomaly to the attention of our MEPs and Sean Kelly is in a very unique and powerful position to take this matter to the EU Competition Commissioner. I suggest we all put it to canvassers and I have emailed Sean on it; me thinks he will relish the opportunity and the timing is perfect for him to prove that he isn't the 'one trick pony' that some urbanites accuse him of.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 18, 2014 22:40:15 GMT
I see Gaelic footballers think sky will treat the gaa the same as they do the premier league, not a hope all sky think about is English soccer ,on Sundays they spend hours talking about the two games they have that day it starts at 12:30 and finishes at 8:00 they won't do that with gaa games they will only put half a hour on each side of the game and there will be ads there!! They won't give a * about the gaa it's worthless compared to the premier league, it's not like the English ppl are not gonna chose hurling over soccer English ppl hate anything that's not English
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Post by Dermot on Apr 23, 2014 14:26:17 GMT
The Sky deal has a few different possible outcomes .. some good and some not so good! Personally I think the idea of having games on SKY should be good for the GAA, good for Irish folk living abroad and good for promoting the game in general! The down side is obviously that some folk (older folk & less financially stable) will not be able to see their counties play on TV due to not having sky .. I think its bloody awful that folk could have given thousands of hours of their time "FREE" throughout their lives to their chosen sport to now be told they have to pay a subscription to Sky to watch their county play in an amateur game!! I think that any (certainly of the bigger games) games played on SKY should also be on TV to ensure no one looses out!! Also, I would be a bit fearful that this is just the start of a slippery slope ... What happens in 3 years time?
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Post by lár na páirce on Apr 24, 2014 8:50:25 GMT
The Sky deal has a few different possible outcomes .. some good and some not so good! Personally I think the idea of having games on SKY should be good for the GAA, good for Irish folk living abroad This is a red herring,SKY only have the rights to the UK and Irish markets,SKY have nothing to do with the viewing of GAA in Australia or the U.S If anything it hampers the viewers in the UK who previously could subscribe to PREMIER SPORTS for e10 a month and get every game. Now to get the same volume of games they will need BOTH premier sports & Sky. Bad bad deal for the GAA
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Post by Dermot on Apr 25, 2014 13:08:50 GMT
The Sky deal has a few different possible outcomes .. some good and some not so good! Personally I think the idea of having games on SKY should be good for the GAA, good for Irish folk living abroad This is a red herring,SKY only have the rights to the UK and Irish markets,SKY have nothing to do with the viewing of GAA in Australia or the U.S If anything it hampers the viewers in the UK who previously could subscribe to PREMIER SPORTS for e10 a month and get every game. Now to get the same volume of games they will need BOTH premier sports & Sky. Bad bad deal for the GAA Oh Jaysus, never knew that ... Its worse than I thought then !!
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Post by glengael on Apr 25, 2014 13:58:40 GMT
What would the general view in Tyrone and thereabouts be Dermot on the Sky deal?
The panellist from Tyrone who is occasionally on Seo Spoirt on TG4, Conal is his first name (don't know his surname) was quite trenchant in his opposition a few weeks ago.
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Post by dingle101 on Apr 25, 2014 14:08:48 GMT
The Sky deal has a few different possible outcomes .. some good and some not so good! Personally I think the idea of having games on SKY should be good for the GAA, good for Irish folk living abroad This is a red herring,SKY only have the rights to the UK and Irish markets,SKY have nothing to do with the viewing of GAA in Australia or the U.S If anything it hampers the viewers in the UK who previously could subscribe to PREMIER SPORTS for e10 a month and get every game. Now to get the same volume of games they will need BOTH premier sports & Sky. Bad bad deal for the GAA money money money that sky deal will flop soon enough. In a recession not many people will have the money to pay hundreds of euros to watch a few games, be cheaper to travel from kerry up to Croker for every Kerry.
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seamo
Fanatical Member
Posts: 2,016
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Post by seamo on Apr 25, 2014 16:28:34 GMT
This is a red herring,SKY only have the rights to the UK and Irish markets,SKY have nothing to do with the viewing of GAA in Australia or the U.S If anything it hampers the viewers in the UK who previously could subscribe to PREMIER SPORTS for e10 a month and get every game. Now to get the same volume of games they will need BOTH premier sports & Sky. Bad bad deal for the GAA money money money that sky deal will flop soon enough. In a recession not many people will have the money to pay hundreds of euros to watch a few games, be cheaper to travel from kerry up to Croker for every Kerry. It won't flop, Sky will do well out of it and IT WILL BE EXTENDED after the 3 years. Incredibly naive that people think the GAA will turn there backs on millions of cash they have gotten used to receiving and spending. GAA is very much becoming a 2 or 3 tier organisation now. When you think of this deal, Dublin sponsorship deal (not having a go at Dublin), money spent on intercounty panels; and then contrast that with clubs struggling for players, volunteers, money for new jerseys etc. While multi-million euro deals are being negotiated and signed, what progress is being made on the backbone of the organisation, the clubs?
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Post by Dermot on Apr 25, 2014 16:36:43 GMT
What would the general view in Tyrone and thereabouts be Dermot on the Sky deal? The panellist from Tyrone who is occasionally on Seo Spoirt on TG4, Conal is his first name (don't know his surname) was quite trenchant in his opposition a few weeks ago. Hi Glengael, Folks up here dont think too much of it to tell you the truth ... Most would see it as a bit of an affront to be asking all & sundry to pay sky fees to see their beloved amateur sport .. They would understand better if it was professional but its not!! People want to know just how all this is going to benefit the GAA as an organisation .. Will they see a "demonstrable" benefit to their local clubs or their counties? .. .. I wonder ? They feel this may only benefit the hierarchy .. Just not sure how all this is going to turn out !! Personally I wouldnt have a problem with games being shown on sky but ONLY if those same games were shown on TV .. I also wouldnt have a problem if sky were allowed to exclusively show games which wouldnt otherwise be on TV but thats not likely to happen anyway as those games wouldnt be deemed big enough crowd pullers for sky to bother with!! Its the exclusive games that sky are getting that's p1ssing people off! p.s. Cant think who the Tyrone panelist is tbh!
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Post by Ballyfireside on Apr 26, 2014 0:12:14 GMT
The Sky deal has a few different possible outcomes .. some good and some not so good! Personally I think the idea of having games on SKY should be good for the GAA, good for Irish folk living abroad This is a red herring,SKY only have the rights to the UK and Irish markets,SKY have nothing to do with the viewing of GAA in Australia or the U.S If anything it hampers the viewers in the UK who previously could subscribe to PREMIER SPORTS for e10 a month and get every game. Now to get the same volume of games they will need BOTH premier sports & Sky. Bad bad deal for the GAA I think we should check out this 'red herring' before debating it but we will not be told as the details are 'commercially sensitive'. The drinks industry is also going to benefit significantly of course and this would also have to have been a major factor in negotiations. I just hope the GAA had good advice although the decision rests with those who took it, no blaming others. Personally I am appalled as it hits the most vulnerable and who would probably have been the very people who helped out down the years when others turned their back. Three years is a long time if you have to turn back the clock and a lot of youngsters and support will be lost to other sports. Overall there is no rocket science involved here, the one thing that the GAA shouldn't have done, well, they just did it, cut off the hand that fed them. So un-GAA spirit and moreover the times that are in it; another nail in the coffin of rural isolation, globalisation gone wrong, etc.
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