More free-to-air games on TV than ever, GAA to tell TDs in hearing on GAAGO controversy

The number of free-to-air games on television is higher than ever before, the GAA will tell an Oireachtas committee today.

Sporting bodies and media companies will appear before the Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media to discuss the future of sports broadcasting, and the controversy around GAAGO.

In their opening statement, representatives from the GAA will defend their streaming service and describe it as a “positive and exciting departure”.

The association will say that the expectation that every game should be on TV is “not realistic”.

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“It is not in our interest, and not in our plans.”

“What the future will hold is by no means certain, but it will be different. People no longer watch television in the same way.”

[ GAAGO: Hurling suffers when RTÉ and GAA put the best matches behind a paywall ]

GAAGO is a streaming service set up by the GAA and RTÉ, initially introduced several years ago to offer Irish people living abroad subscriptions to watch matches online.

This year the streaming service holds the exclusive rights to nearly 40 championship matches, meaning those same matches will not be available on free-to-air TV stations.

Earlier this year, three-time All-Ireland winner Dónal Óg Cusack strongly criticised the arrangement, saying some of the most entertaining hurling matches of the season so far had been behind GAAGO’s paywall.

A “season pass” subscription for all the matches behind the streaming service’s paywall is set at €79 this year.

There is also the option for people to pay for a subscription to watch a single match for €12, or to buy a bundle to watch three matches for €24.

[ What is GAAGO and why is there controversy over GAA games? ]

The FAI will also tell the committee that football is the single biggest participation sport in the country with more than 450,000 people directly involved.

The revenue generated from broadcast and media rights plays “a key role in supporting the work we do”.

“But in growing revenues, there is always a need to ensure the right balance is reached between that desire to grow the financial pot against ensuring the right level of visibility for the game.”

The Federation of Irish Sport will tell the committee that “frequent visibility of women’s sport makes it a natural and accepted part of the media landscape and challenges gender stereotypes”.

However, they will say that the “broadcast of women’s sport has a long way to go to achieve a fair share of media attention”.