The GAA's director of communications Alan Milton says that “it's simply not feasible” for all games to be free to air.

Milton speaking on RTÉ Radio's Morning Ireland show ahead of this weekend’s All-Ireland senior football championship four first round ties – three of which are being shown exclusively by GAA+, including the last year’s final repeat between defending champions Kerry and Donegal which throws in tomorrow at 3pm in Killarney.

While some have voiced their disapproval of the streaming service, the GAA's director of communications has backed it and said trying to offer the best coverage of game is “a challenging landscape”.

"I understand that people feel strongly about this but as an organisation if we are to future proof our broadcast offering and make as many games available as possible, it's simply not feasible for all games to be free to air," said Milton.

"In essence what we are dealing with here are 180 championship games on 30 matchdays, so it is going to be a blend going forward. We have two free-to-air partners (RTÉ and BBC NI) as part of that blend but it is simply not possible to have all games free-to-air."

He added: "If it is to be a credible platform for broadcast it needs to have games that are highly attractive. From time to time and depending on how the games fall, how they are scheduled by the CCC, GAA+ will get plum games. If the GAA are to be savvy in this case, we have to futureproof our offering. We're involved in a lot of infrastructural projects and when you reinvest 83% of what comes in, we have to be efficient and forward thinking.

"I appreciate that that can come as a challenge to an older cohort. We have a shorter season now, more games across the two codes. It is a challenging landscape to try and offer the best coverage and you probably are not going to satisfy everybody all of the time."

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