National Forum

The Sky deal yet again

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As with every year we have the same issue of supporters not being able to watch their county team, do the GAA not realise that majority of this country do not have sky or are they too thick to see this, the idea of going to your local pub to watch is laughable, in a country of alcoholics we are asking people to go into rubs instead of getting out of them, also not every pub has sky and in some areas there isn't a pub due to lack of population in recent years. For Gods sake will the GAA have some cop on and give us back our games, subscription TV doesn't work in Ireland, people won't waste hard earned money on rubbish, they barely pay TV licence as it is. I know people who haven't been able to attend any championship games for a number of reasons and have only seen 1 Mayo game on TV that was on RTE, sky have shown 3 games and next sat will be game number 4. It's time the GAA realise that cities and major towns aren't the only people that watch and attend our games, we in rural Ireland have no voice on issues like this, it's plain to see why GAA clubs don't invite the hierarchy from croke park to open GAA grounds anymore, they at the top have lost touch with grassroots

riverboys (Mayo) - Posts: 1389 - 02/08/2016 14:17:24    1894037

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Replying To riverboys:  "As with every year we have the same issue of supporters not being able to watch their county team, do the GAA not realise that majority of this country do not have sky or are they too thick to see this, the idea of going to your local pub to watch is laughable, in a country of alcoholics we are asking people to go into rubs instead of getting out of them, also not every pub has sky and in some areas there isn't a pub due to lack of population in recent years. For Gods sake will the GAA have some cop on and give us back our games, subscription TV doesn't work in Ireland, people won't waste hard earned money on rubbish, they barely pay TV licence as it is. I know people who haven't been able to attend any championship games for a number of reasons and have only seen 1 Mayo game on TV that was on RTE, sky have shown 3 games and next sat will be game number 4. It's time the GAA realise that cities and major towns aren't the only people that watch and attend our games, we in rural Ireland have no voice on issues like this, it's plain to see why GAA clubs don't invite the hierarchy from croke park to open GAA grounds anymore, they at the top have lost touch with grassroots"
spare us all the sanctimony...go to the game..support your team

alano12 (Dublin) - Posts: 2208 - 02/08/2016 14:29:07    1894040

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I'd agree that the sky deal is a disaster. It's all part of the money making racket that the GAA is morphing into and they're losing sight of the communities that hold the organisation together.

ZeitChrist (UK) - Posts: 154 - 02/08/2016 14:35:42    1894042

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I know people who haven't been able to attend any championship games for a number of reasons and have only seen 1 Mayo game on TV that was on RTE

To be fair that's one more game than a number of other fans have been able to see on tv.

Years ago it was only provincial finals and the All Ireland semi's and final that were shown live. Nowadays almost of half of all championship matches are available on tv, the more competition the better really.

if_in_doubt (Kildare) - Posts: 3685 - 02/08/2016 14:38:52    1894045

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Quarter-finals should come under shared coverage like the semi-finals and finals.

I've no problem with qualifiers that were not being attended being behind a TV payment system.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 7838 - 02/08/2016 14:45:21    1894047

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Your dead right....................its a disgrace that 2 of the all ireland quarter-finals are being shown only on sky sports. The gaa wont allow foreign games in Croke park yet they sell the tv rights to a foreign broadcaster.

Rayo (Galway) - Posts: 90 - 02/08/2016 14:47:37    1894050

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Replying To riverboys:  "As with every year we have the same issue of supporters not being able to watch their county team, do the GAA not realise that majority of this country do not have sky or are they too thick to see this, the idea of going to your local pub to watch is laughable, in a country of alcoholics we are asking people to go into rubs instead of getting out of them, also not every pub has sky and in some areas there isn't a pub due to lack of population in recent years. For Gods sake will the GAA have some cop on and give us back our games, subscription TV doesn't work in Ireland, people won't waste hard earned money on rubbish, they barely pay TV licence as it is. I know people who haven't been able to attend any championship games for a number of reasons and have only seen 1 Mayo game on TV that was on RTE, sky have shown 3 games and next sat will be game number 4. It's time the GAA realise that cities and major towns aren't the only people that watch and attend our games, we in rural Ireland have no voice on issues like this, it's plain to see why GAA clubs don't invite the hierarchy from croke park to open GAA grounds anymore, they at the top have lost touch with grassroots"
Maybe as part of the deal they should have negotiated that SKY provide the service free to ever GAA club in Ireland for the summer meaning that it is at least accessible for the majority of the population even if not completely ideal. Then again that would probably be killing the whole purpose of them paying for the rights in the first place.

Naysayer (Antrim) - Posts: 2071 - 02/08/2016 14:56:56    1894056

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moan moan moan how did they manage 20 odd years ago when these games weren't on tv or other counties that havnt been shown at all the likes of antrim Carlow Leitrim etc are rarely televised by rte how do they manage.

whats wrong going down to the pub having a water watching the game and been social do ye not leave the home at all

people also forget that sky as a whole are employing over a 1000 people in this country the majority in the 18-35 demographic who would probley be lost to this country without them investing in roi so there are doing a lot of good for this country more then most in fact.

jm25 (Galway) - Posts: 1159 - 02/08/2016 15:17:03    1894066

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Replying To riverboys:  "As with every year we have the same issue of supporters not being able to watch their county team, do the GAA not realise that majority of this country do not have sky or are they too thick to see this, the idea of going to your local pub to watch is laughable, in a country of alcoholics we are asking people to go into rubs instead of getting out of them, also not every pub has sky and in some areas there isn't a pub due to lack of population in recent years. For Gods sake will the GAA have some cop on and give us back our games, subscription TV doesn't work in Ireland, people won't waste hard earned money on rubbish, they barely pay TV licence as it is. I know people who haven't been able to attend any championship games for a number of reasons and have only seen 1 Mayo game on TV that was on RTE, sky have shown 3 games and next sat will be game number 4. It's time the GAA realise that cities and major towns aren't the only people that watch and attend our games, we in rural Ireland have no voice on issues like this, it's plain to see why GAA clubs don't invite the hierarchy from croke park to open GAA grounds anymore, they at the top have lost touch with grassroots"
Try being from Louth. We played 3 championship matches this year. RTE screened none of them. Nor did SKY. We got the usual 2 minutes of highlights on The Sunday Game. RTE don't deserve to have the football championship. The Sunday Game Live is a very poor programme. It is put to shame by SKY's coverage. I understand your point about satellite tv. However RTE's coverage of football is very lazy. I much prefer watching football on SKY. Hopefully RTE will change their attitude and vastly improve their live coverage.

Greengrass (Louth) - Posts: 6031 - 02/08/2016 15:18:25    1894068

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Replying To riverboys:  "As with every year we have the same issue of supporters not being able to watch their county team, do the GAA not realise that majority of this country do not have sky or are they too thick to see this, the idea of going to your local pub to watch is laughable, in a country of alcoholics we are asking people to go into rubs instead of getting out of them, also not every pub has sky and in some areas there isn't a pub due to lack of population in recent years. For Gods sake will the GAA have some cop on and give us back our games, subscription TV doesn't work in Ireland, people won't waste hard earned money on rubbish, they barely pay TV licence as it is. I know people who haven't been able to attend any championship games for a number of reasons and have only seen 1 Mayo game on TV that was on RTE, sky have shown 3 games and next sat will be game number 4. It's time the GAA realise that cities and major towns aren't the only people that watch and attend our games, we in rural Ireland have no voice on issues like this, it's plain to see why GAA clubs don't invite the hierarchy from croke park to open GAA grounds anymore, they at the top have lost touch with grassroots"
While the general jist of your post is commendable there are a few points here, subscription tv is popular in Ireland but the level of packages varies, many have access to Sky Sports though through proper or improper means and with Eir now offering free Eir Sport (formerly setanta) and BT Sports on their TV pack to eir customers their coverage of the National League will increase significantly. On that point Setanta had rights to National League games for a few years now and no one said boo and plenty had to pay extra on top of their Sky subscription to access those games. You seem to be implying that the GAA's TV decision is driving people into pubs and increasing the drink problem......I don't think that's fair, none of us ever needed help from the GAA to persuade us to go to the pub and many people were doing it for years to watch Premier League games with United, Liverpool etc before Sky became more widespread. The GAA made the decision to include Sky and not too many county boards have kicked up a stink apart from one or two so personally I think opposition to the deal is not as great as it initially was, having said that I do certainly have an issue with two quarter finals not being available on terrestrial TV and that needs addressing

Richieq (Meath) - Posts: 3734 - 02/08/2016 15:19:11    1894069

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Stop your moaning and go watch it somewhere with sky!

Sick of all this. Sky have done well to break into RTE monopoly. We don't get RTE so fairs fair. In any event, like with every other game I will be there.

redhanddefender (Tyrone) - Posts: 913 - 02/08/2016 15:23:45    1894076

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Replying To alano12:  "spare us all the sanctimony...go to the game..support your team"
It's not always possible for people to go to games alan. You don't know people's circumstances and why they may rely on being able to watch the games from their home.

CroiGorm (Dublin) - Posts: 1547 - 02/08/2016 15:29:07    1894080

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Replying To alano12:  "spare us all the sanctimony...go to the game..support your team"
Also, how do you expect people to 'go to the game' when tickets are like gold dust?

CroiGorm (Dublin) - Posts: 1547 - 02/08/2016 15:30:19    1894081

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Replying To Richieq:  "While the general jist of your post is commendable there are a few points here, subscription tv is popular in Ireland but the level of packages varies, many have access to Sky Sports though through proper or improper means and with Eir now offering free Eir Sport (formerly setanta) and BT Sports on their TV pack to eir customers their coverage of the National League will increase significantly. On that point Setanta had rights to National League games for a few years now and no one said boo and plenty had to pay extra on top of their Sky subscription to access those games. You seem to be implying that the GAA's TV decision is driving people into pubs and increasing the drink problem......I don't think that's fair, none of us ever needed help from the GAA to persuade us to go to the pub and many people were doing it for years to watch Premier League games with United, Liverpool etc before Sky became more widespread. The GAA made the decision to include Sky and not too many county boards have kicked up a stink apart from one or two so personally I think opposition to the deal is not as great as it initially was, having said that I do certainly have an issue with two quarter finals not being available on terrestrial TV and that needs addressing"
Very well said.

Greengrass (Louth) - Posts: 6031 - 02/08/2016 15:39:44    1894089

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Replying To CroiGorm:  "Also, how do you expect people to 'go to the game' when tickets are like gold dust?"
tickets like golddust ah go away tell me what game so far this year was it not possible to get a ticket too?? stadiums are barely half full for majority of games

jm25 (Galway) - Posts: 1159 - 02/08/2016 15:39:51    1894090

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I was initially happy to see the GAA do a deal with Sky. In many ways I felt they had no choice. They needed to promote the games and RTE insisted on telling people what they were watching was crap, when it came to football at least. Zero appreciation of the fact that the game was evolving and in many ways improving. TV3's coverage wasn't great and didn't seem to pressurise RTE into raising their game in the slightest.

I don't really think this deal was about money. Sky didn't pay much more than TV3, I think the GAA just decided they had to do something about having their primary sport trashed week in week out rather than promoted.

In a poor enough season it is unfortunate that some of the better games have not been available to the masses. I think giving TV3 another crack at showing the games might be the best option now and not renewing the Sky deal.

dahayeser (Cork) - Posts: 337 - 02/08/2016 15:42:19    1894094

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Replying To CroiGorm:  "Also, how do you expect people to 'go to the game' when tickets are like gold dust?"
sure if you are active in a club,won't you get a ticket?

perfect10 (Wexford) - Posts: 3929 - 02/08/2016 15:43:28    1894098

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There was a young man from Mhaigh Eo
Who didn't subscribe to Sky Go
So the matches he missed
Ended up pretty pi$$ed
When he could have just watched them on..... Oh!*

*suggested ways not condoned by HS

Offside_Rule (Antrim) - Posts: 4058 - 02/08/2016 15:52:09    1894103

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Replying To alano12:  "spare us all the sanctimony...go to the game..support your team"
A narrow-minded and ignorant post.
Speaking for myself, I rarely used to miss Donegal games. But since my daughter was born priorities have obviously changed. This Saturday my wife is working and we don't have grandparents/relatives living near us who can easily baby sit. So I won't be travelling to Dublin nor will I be further lining Rupert Murdoch's pockets for the sake of one game. I won't be bringing my daughter to a pub either just so I can watch it.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9129 - 02/08/2016 16:00:12    1894108

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It's a difficult one as not everyone can travel to games. Personally it does not effect me but it has effected my parents. I know people who are carer's, looking after a sick relative at home etc. People in nursing homes? The argument that "ah sure them games weren't on 25 years ago" is a bit like saying people shouldn't have internet access or a telephone line. This is 2016.

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11229 - 02/08/2016 16:04:51    1894110

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