National Forum

"Why Should Anybody Have The God-Given Right To See All Games On Television?"

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BBC do a good job on Ulster Championship matches but the RTE deal has until this year limited them to delayed coverage or live matches also being shown by RTE. In the past two years RTE decided to focus on the Munster and Leinster hurling and only showed two from eight Ulster matches. In a way RTE were investing money for the privilege of NOT showing Ulster games stopping others from doing so as well ... no outrage from their panel over this.. Hats off to the Ulster Council for brokering a better deal this year with RTE, Sky and BBC showing five live matches between them. This arrangement might be a model for the future to at least show provincial semi finals live as Virgin Media being Dublin based could cover Leinster, Tg4 with their HQs in Galway (still linked to RTE for news) are well placed for Connacht which frees up RTE for Munster
I'm not a huge fan of the Sky deal but they did in fairness show both Saturday matches live on different channels whereas RTE showed the same "Coma in Omagh" live on two different channels despite having cameras at the second match. Guess they had hyped up 'Dermo's return' so much on their radio/TV coverage that they felt we should have a choice of commentary instead of matches .... go hiontach !

Curlew66 (Roscommon) - Posts: 604 - 07/08/2019 14:39:29    2222204

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Replying To Gleebo:  "Times change, lads. It's a red herring to compare GAA coverage at a time when we only had two TV channels in Ireland to one in which we have the Internet and app-based streaming services.

For instance, when my mother went to university in the mid 1980s, her family home had no landline on which to call the house. Does this mean that if the broadband isn't working today, that my grandparents shouldn't complain to the Internet Service Provider?

I remember reading a stat to the effect that in the late 1970s, only half of homes in the West of Ireland had TV, as against more than 90 per cent in Dublin. Does this mean that people there shouldn't complain if their satellite TV reception gets scrambled? (As often happens when it rains heavily, if memory serves).

Just because things were much rarer or were less comfortable in the past does not mean that the people can't be miffed about missing out on things in the present."
Agreed. By some peoples logic farmers should still be taking milk to the creamery in creamery cans, cutting turf with the slean, or milking the cows by hand and to hell with this modern stuff.

tireoghainabu (Tyrone) - Posts: 390 - 07/08/2019 14:53:56    2222211

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Replying To tireoghainabu:  "Spot on, it is a disgrace that people in Ireland can't watch their national games but have to a subscribe to a Murdock (up to recently) backed enterprise which is a tool for right wing propaganda across the world. If Mickey has a problem with RTE that should be a seperate issue."
Would it be less abhorrent if they were a left leaning godless commie entity? Seriously why has Murdock or politics been brought into to argument here?

seanie_boy (Tyrone) - Posts: 4235 - 07/08/2019 15:38:18    2222224

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Replying To seanie_boy:  "Would it be less abhorrent if they were a left leaning godless commie entity? Seriously why has Murdock or politics been brought into to argument here?"
The GAA is meant to be a 32 county sporting and cultural organisation and should aim to make all games available where possible. How many thousands of genuine fans in Mayo and Donegal and all over Ireland were denied the best game of football played this year. Why not make GAA Go available to everyone. By the way I don't think God is high on the list of priorities for Sky.

tireoghainabu (Tyrone) - Posts: 390 - 07/08/2019 15:55:01    2222239

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Replying To tireoghainabu:  "The GAA is meant to be a 32 county sporting and cultural organisation and should aim to make all games available where possible. How many thousands of genuine fans in Mayo and Donegal and all over Ireland were denied the best game of football played this year. Why not make GAA Go available to everyone. By the way I don't think God is high on the list of priorities for Sky."
I doubt there was that many genuine fans didnt find a way to see it where theres a will theres a way. Denied is a bit over the top a word to use nobody locked em into their houses

Breezy (Limerick) - Posts: 1236 - 07/08/2019 16:11:34    2222253

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Replying To tireoghainabu:  "The GAA is meant to be a 32 county sporting and cultural organisation and should aim to make all games available where possible. How many thousands of genuine fans in Mayo and Donegal and all over Ireland were denied the best game of football played this year. Why not make GAA Go available to everyone. By the way I don't think God is high on the list of priorities for Sky."
Not sure how much GAA GO is now but NOWTV is €10 for 24 hours including the game.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7923 - 07/08/2019 16:23:53    2222264

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Replying To Breezy:  "I doubt there was that many genuine fans didnt find a way to see it where theres a will theres a way. Denied is a bit over the top a word to use nobody locked em into their houses"
I take it you have never been to the remote regions of west Donegal or Mayo or you might think otherwise.

tireoghainabu (Tyrone) - Posts: 390 - 07/08/2019 16:27:01    2222266

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Replying To tireoghainabu:  "The GAA is meant to be a 32 county sporting and cultural organisation and should aim to make all games available where possible. How many thousands of genuine fans in Mayo and Donegal and all over Ireland were denied the best game of football played this year. Why not make GAA Go available to everyone. By the way I don't think God is high on the list of priorities for Sky."
Still no need to bring Murdock or politics into the argument. Your post belied your distaste for the political leanings of the sky organization as much as anything else. That's half the problem of today's first world problems,everything gets politicized from the get go and then nobody can be heard above the din of self righteous indignation.

seanie_boy (Tyrone) - Posts: 4235 - 07/08/2019 16:34:06    2222270

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Can somebody enlighten me about the Sky "ethics" issue, what did they do?

maroondiesel (Mayo) - Posts: 1226 - 07/08/2019 16:52:33    2222277

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Replying To seanie_boy:  "Still no need to bring Murdock or politics into the argument. Your post belied your distaste for the political leanings of the sky organization as much as anything else. That's half the problem of today's first world problems,everything gets politicized from the get go and then nobody can be heard above the din of self righteous indignation."
Oops- I think I have touched on a nerve there.

tireoghainabu (Tyrone) - Posts: 390 - 07/08/2019 16:53:30    2222278

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Replying To maroondiesel:  "Can somebody enlighten me about the Sky "ethics" issue, what did they do?"
Sell stuff for profit. The cheek of them! I think the issue is you need a Sky subscription of some sort to watch GAA matches on TV and RTE is free. Except we're paying €160 annually for RTE whether we like it or not.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7923 - 07/08/2019 17:01:54    2222283

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Replying To maroondiesel:  "Can somebody enlighten me about the Sky "ethics" issue, what did they do?"
It's part Murdoch owned.

To be fair to them they have resisted a full takeover as much as possible.

Murdoch, Fox, the British red tops he owns are all disgusting entities. Sky I'd say less so.

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4506 - 07/08/2019 17:11:29    2222292

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Replying To GreenandRed:  "Sell stuff for profit. The cheek of them! I think the issue is you need a Sky subscription of some sort to watch GAA matches on TV and RTE is free. Except we're paying €160 annually for RTE whether we like it or not."
Another way to look at it is that you're paying €160 annually for the right to them pay Sky more money every month.

Can't get RTÉ without the licence fee but you can't get Sky Sports without the licence fee plus a Sky sub every month.

MesAmis (Dublin) - Posts: 13795 - 07/08/2019 18:24:44    2222316

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so its a private organisation that gives jobs to Rachel Wise and pays all of her guests etc now I understand why people are offended? I would like a GAA channel for E100 ish per annum and the govt could subsidise the needy and those in hardships

maroondiesel (Mayo) - Posts: 1226 - 07/08/2019 18:28:54    2222317

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Replying To tireoghainabu:  "Oops- I think I have touched on a nerve there."
Not really. But why don't you explain why you felt the need to bring a political dimension to the discussion.

seanie_boy (Tyrone) - Posts: 4235 - 07/08/2019 18:33:30    2222321

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Replying To MesAmis:  "Another way to look at it is that you're paying €160 annually for the right to them pay Sky more money every month.

Can't get RTÉ without the licence fee but you can't get Sky Sports without the licence fee plus a Sky sub every month."
I'd still prefer that my €160 wasn't feeding a lot of public servants who also get some of my tax when I rarely watch RTE. I'd prefer if it all went to TG4 who promote our language and seem more clued in as shown by them live streaming games on YouTube.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7923 - 07/08/2019 19:09:07    2222334

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The amateur ethos rubbish is put out when it suits. When it comes to tv rights selling out is all good

centerfield (Mayo) - Posts: 360 - 07/08/2019 20:53:50    2222423

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Replying To totalrecall:  "it's an amateur game being played by amateurs, it is not professional sport but we see fit to allow full time paid officials to make decisions who would not put the decision to go with Sky before congress.

Not everyone can afford Sky, and many who cant are GAA volunteers at local level who the Top Brass in the GAA have no regard or respect for. Older people who may not be physically able to attend games but who may have given lots of service to the GAA in the past are being ignored as well.

The GAA love to clap themselves on the back about community???....is pay per view TV central to community????.........put this to John Horan and no doubt he will behind the diaspora which seems to be GAA's standard answer to any difficult question these days."
This is it in a nutshell. People need to be reminded, again and again.

"Our GAA: Where we all belong". Only, apparently, if you have plenty of money.

The GAA are hypocrites.

Midleton (Cork) - Posts: 644 - 08/08/2019 19:46:24    2222789

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A lot of mayo people cannot afford sky. Football is all they have in mayo its sad to see the supporters unable to watch the team the love because they cannot afford what some of us take for granted.

brisbane (Galway) - Posts: 675 - 08/08/2019 20:44:23    2222812

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"The God given right to watch games is a bit extreme for Mickey Harte to put it but I don't blame him for his boycott and dislike for RTE. What they did to him at that particular time was low.

The sky deal is not for reaching a wider audience for the GAA it was greed from the Croke Park executive board and is 1 of many disregards the GAA hq has for grassroots and supporters. Now I'm not a fan of RTE either especially their stardard of programming and excessive salaries for employees but that's a different argument. RTE are not interested in catering for everyone either when I was living in Canada the rte player had games blocked for people outside of Ireland. They didn't like it either when TV3 were showing games, for a long time their main sport interest was rugby until they lost the rights of the 6 nations to virgin media. The tv station that has done the most for gealic games is TG4 showing great coverage for league, underage and club games.

The GAA prides and promotes itself on its amateur and community etiquettes when it suits. All games should be on free to air tv shared between RTE, virgin media and TG4 and maybe give sky international rights to games.

DUALSUPPORT (Limerick) - Posts: 1038 - 08/08/2019 22:59:10    2222876

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