No monopoly on broadcasts

The GAA has defended the granting of broadcast rights to subscription channels. Speaking generally in the context of current negotiations to decide the next round of rights, the GAA's commercial and marketing manager, Dermot Power, said that whereas Croke Park acknowledged opposition to the decision to allow Setanta to broadcast floodlit National League matches, that opposition had been less than expected and that competition for the rights to Gaelic games was welcome.

"We'd be aware of it, because originally there was quite a lot of criticism," he said, "and some people had genuine reservations. I'm not making any comment on what the next rights agreement will be while discussions are ongoing, but I think it's fair to say that ultimately it didn't turn out to be as big an issue as people thought.

"It's a question of balance and RTÉ can't show every single GAA fixture. The League coverage on Setanta was very good and they had one of their biggest audiences for the Dublin-Tyrone match last February. They've also been very good partners of ours since the early 1990s. They're a young Irish company and I think we would have been open to criticism had we not given them a chance to see what they could do.

"One of the great things about the Setanta coverage has been the replaying in full of championship matches on weekdays. Not everyone who goes to a championship match is able to get home for the Sunday Game, and RTÉ can't show re-runs during the week, so it's been a real addition and is to the benefit of channels like that."

Competition for the current round of talks is more intense than ever. It is no secret the GAA wouldn't consider putting championship fixtures exclusively on pay-for-play or subscription, but, as has been seen in recent weeks, partnership between terrestrial and satellite stations is a potential way forward.

In the past, TV3 and Sky formed such a partnership to show Ireland soccer internationals. At present, Rugby World Cup rights holders Setanta are co-operating with TV3 in screening the tournament. Power is cautious about the possibilities of this providing an alternative to the eternal arrangement with RTÉ, but says that sport is established as a big audience builder.

"It's helpful for us now that there's more competition. You'd have to think now that TV3 have attracted such serious audiences for the Rugby World Cup, even though Ireland were unsuccessful, they'll be interested. I don't know if they'll replicate that arrangement with Setanta, but they may well have identified sport as a likely growth area for their next stage of development.

"The figures are in from the weekend and the France-England match gave TF1 an audience of 18,300,000, their biggest of the year and the biggest ever for a rugby match there. And in England the audience for ITV1's coverage reached over 50 per cent of the total viewership for the last five minutes."

Technology has had an impact on broadcast rights packages and continues to evolve. Already the GAA have had to compensate Setanta in respect of loss of revenue from the addition of RTÉ to the Sky digital platform. This means that anyone with the relevant decoder can tune into RTÉ and access all of the station's GAA coverage.

"The European market has almost been wiped out by the digital platform," says Power. "Given the number of people with property overseas, it's very easy for set-top boxes from Ireland to find their way there. It's not the same problem in Britain because the situation is better monitored and there's a more established footprint of television outlets.

"This has actually become an issue for Sky because they have trouble with it as well. Irish set-top boxes can bring Premiership matches back to Britain. Sky are working to police that situation and enhanced technologies allow us to geo-block some signals, but that sort of overspill is an increasing problem for all rights holders."

The GAA hope to conclude the broadcast agreements early next year. The League campaigns will continue to be shown by TG4 and Setanta, with the new arrangements coming into force for next year's championship.