Sky may not always be off limits for GAA

For all the straight faces and straight bats, there would have been a few grim smiles around Croke Park when word of the FAI deal with Sky emerged last weekend.

It was accordingly ironic to hear RTÉ's Head of Sport Niall Cogley reflect warmly on his relationship with the GAA during the relentless round of interviews he gave in the stunned aftermath of the news that home soccer internationals were going to be shown live only on subscription television.

Whereas it is true that relations between the two bodies have improved markedly in recent years, there is still plenty of room for improvement.

At the heart of the relationship is the feeling - which you suspect affects both parties - that they are trapped in an unsatisfactory marriage, going back 40 years to when Michael O'Hehir (RTÉ's first Head of Sport) acquired the rights to a handful of GAA matches for the nominal sum of £10 a year (which now wouldn't buy an individual access to one soccer international under the new Sky deal).

There has never been any secret made of the fact that the GAA is hugely frustrated at the absence of competition in the market over the years. The advent of TV3 ignited a flicker of promise but that was extinguished as soon as it became apparent that the country's first commercial television station had little interest in Irish programming and less in Gaelic games.

Consequently, every three years there has been a vaguely sullen engagement over the domestic rights before a new deal is thrashed out. You get the impression that the GAA resents what they see as the take-it-or-leave-it attitude of RTÉ - the truculence about removing live matches from its programming on the Sky Digital platform in order to protect international rights holders Setanta Sport in Britain being an example - whereas the broadcaster resents the resentment.

So there was probably a little frisson of appreciation when it became clear that the FAI had dumped RTÉ with a clatter.

In a way the soccer authorities are living out the Croke Park fantasy of slipping away from the negotiating table and suddenly making the announcement that they have secured a massive increase from a competing bid.

There are also practical ramifications. It is now obvious that Sky are mounting an assault on the Irish market. Therefore a satellite offer for GAA rights isn't as far-fetched as it might have been before.

RTÉ will as a result presumably have to take seriously the notion that GAA rights could go the same way. In the real world that's unlikely to happen for a couple of reasons but it should keep any negotiations honest.

Croke Park has acknowledged that its membership and unwieldy, decision-making structures make the conclusion of a deal with Sky unlikely. There might be little sympathy for RTÉ despite the shabby treatment it received (in fact the most telling commentary on the national broadcaster's popularity is the fact that it is struggling to win a PR battle with the FAI) but the prospect of selling out the national games to a British pay-per-view company would be unacceptable to the rank-and-file.

But regardless of the political landscape, there are good reasons why the GAA should - and probably would - think twice about shifting its games away from terrestrial television.

However overwhelming the largesse, it's not clear that it compensates for a drastically reduced audience. At least the FAI know that soccer will continue to be promoted through the Premiership, the Champions League and even the away internationals no matter which channel is chosen to broadcast international matches from Lansdowne Road. Other sports don't have the advantage of as many levels of exposure as soccer does.

Rugby in England, as has been mentioned in recent days, will return to terrestrial television after a period of lucrative solitude on Sky. Part of the reason for this re-evaluation is said to have been market research indicating that only six per cent of schoolboys had ever heard of Jonny Wilkinson.

For public interest purposes Gaelic games have only one realistic level: the senior intercounty championships. Whereas interest within the counties doesn't depend entirely on live television, the evidence of the last seven years - since the commencement of live broadcasting of championship matches - is that the national profile of the games benefited tremendously from being showcased on terrestrial television. Decimating that audience would be a drastic risk.

IT MAY be now that the GAA's relationship with RTÉ will be improved by Gaelic games' new status as the main sporting rights in the possession of Montrose. But the overriding sense of the current television environment is one of flux.

There is the current legislative proposal to list certain events for protection. In a way it's a bit of a red herring. Certain specific events will be covered - All-Ireland finals certainly - but there will be no exhaustive schedule of competitions.

The international experience tends towards minimalist lists and there is no indication that the Government's plans will deviate from that trend. But that doesn't really address the broad question of GAA rights.

It would certainly complicate Croke Park's task in trying to sell exclusive rights to a satellite or digital broadcaster were the All-Ireland finals legally bound to a terrestrial broadcast but the vast bulk of the television audience is for the weekly transmissions throughout the summer.

The director general, Liam Mulvihill, has indicated that the GAA would look for compensation were its bargaining power to be compromised by any listed stipulation on free-to-air broadcast. In the current climate of contracting public finances and recent Government grants, any further public money wouldn't be easy to secure.

That is a scenario for the future. Another is the onset of digital television, which will inevitably lead to even more extensive coverage of matches.

The experience of other sports is that eventually it becomes impossible to tie up their product in exclusive deals. For instance there is already talk that the Champions League will be sold in packages to different broadcasters.

This is because terrestrial stations can only show so much sport in the middle of what are supposed to be general viewing schedules. In other words the more that gets shown, the more difficult it is for terrestrial stations to find space for it. Last year ITV Digital was used to show some of the Champions League matches.

Nonetheless, no matter in what direction television evolves, it is likely we will look back at the events of the past few days not so much as the beginning of a brave new world in sports broadcasting but rather as the end of an old one.