cuederocket
County: Dublin
Posts: 868

1626895
Yes muckross but what about the millions of irish people in Britain that want to watch the games?Im in favour of Sky covering our games since the start.

They can get Premier Sports for 1/4 of the price of Sky and watch 70 to 80 games a year. Problem solved. Not that there ever was a problem seen as Premier have been around for years in the UK. And before anyone says it's RTE's coverage they show, that's not the point

mike03 (Limerick) - Posts: 2000 - 28/07/2014 18:03:24    1627498

They have brought very little to the coverage

The viewing figures have been much lower on Sky compared to TV3

So it's not reaching out to audiences abroad on any sort of great scale WHATSOEVER...

In fact less Irish people are now watching our sports with games moving to Sky

I held my judgment until I saw the coverage

It's poor... nothing new, low budget, small crew, lack of investment on Sky's behalf

All in all..

TV3 offered a lot more for free and was a service that provided our games to many more Irish people

Less Irish people will be able to see our games on Saturday...

Sky coverage to date = 3/10

TV3's coverage = 6/10 - far more expansive and on a bigger scale compared to Sky


http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/television/tv-news/exclusive-32000-viewers-in-ireland-tune-into-skys-gaa-debut-30339999.html

jimbodub (Dublin) - Posts: 20601 - 08/08/2014 14:18:29    1633438

Agree totally with Jimbo.

Just highlights how ridiculous the pro-Sky arguments were at the time with lads claiming that Murdoch's crowd would make TV3 look amatuerish - well, we basically ended up with all the pundits from TV3 plus a hideous 'emerald isle' graphic and... well, that's about it.

Only good thing about Sky's coverage is the addition of a permanent cumulative scoring total so you no longer have to do maths while you're watching the football - take note RTE!

When you consider all the voluntary work and endeavour that people all over the world have poured into the GAA... for free... and the chiefs in Croke Park auction off the fruits of that labour to a private media company motivated purely by private gain, it really makes you sick. It was a shamefull decision and it has to be put right once the contracts are up.

HighKing81 (Meath) - Posts: 129 - 08/08/2014 14:51:48    1633458

If you have an Apple TV box, go to sky now, select sky sports 3 and you can buy it for 9.99 for 24hours.

Brolly (Monaghan) - Posts: 4472 - 08/08/2014 14:56:48    1633460

royaldunne
County: Meath
Posts: 6247

1626622
Extra man. Tell him not to bother as meath will destroy them to a chorus of Jimmy's loosing matches Jimmy's loosing games Jimmy's bringing Donegal back down again. :).

Having a dose of the LOLz here.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9155 - 08/08/2014 14:59:42    1633463

An Article on the main Sky Sports page about this weekends clash between Kilkenny & Limerick and how it reminds some of the "clubs" previous battles in the 70's is another blip

chriscart580 (Meath) - Posts: 376 - 08/08/2014 15:01:48    1633468

An Article on the main Sky Sports page about this weekends clash between Kilkenny & Limerick and how it reminds some of the "clubs" previous battles in the 70's is another blip

Aye and RTE thought Armagh's Mallons were brothers. I think Sky has done a good job with the coverage. Comparing audience numbers is not like for like with TV3.

JP91 (Armagh) - Posts: 316 - 08/08/2014 15:45:55    1633499

I think they're doing a much better job than TV3 and to be honest I'm glad less people can see the games. The attendances at many of the matches sky have covered have been utterly crap so the excuse of, the fans just watched n TV doesn't apply here.

This Saturday for example, to think 5 years ago Donegal v Armagh and Dublin v Monaghan wouldn't have sold croker out by now. There are a small group of hardcore fans who can't make a match here and there that I feel sorry for but the rest I couldn't care less. The only thing the bandwagon TV brigade are good for is ensuring every AI final is a sell out and that many genuine fans end up not getting tickets.

Jack_Goff (Meath) - Posts: 2920 - 08/08/2014 15:58:57    1633505

Less Irish people are now watching our sports.

FACT.

jimbodub (Dublin) - Posts: 20601 - 08/08/2014 16:00:39    1633507

Less Irish people are now watching our sports.

FACT.

putting FACT in capital letters doesn't make it true. I'd imagine its the opposite, with great availability for the Irish in the UK and Australia. I challenge you to find me one Irish person who watched a GAA match on television last year but not this year.

JP91 (Armagh) - Posts: 316 - 08/08/2014 16:11:27    1633517

I'm moving apartment and won't have Sky Sports in the new place. Won't get to see big games now. Not happy.

icehonesty (Wexford) - Posts: 2553 - 08/08/2014 16:20:07    1633523

I think they're doing a much better job than TV3 and to be honest I'm glad less people can see the games. The attendances at many of the matches sky have covered have been utterly crap so the excuse of, the fans just watched n TV doesn't apply here.

This Saturday for example, to think 5 years ago Donegal v Armagh and Dublin v Monaghan wouldn't have sold croker out by now. There are a small group of hardcore fans who can't make a match here and there that I feel sorry for but the rest I couldn't care less. The only thing the bandwagon TV brigade are good for is ensuring every AI final is a sell out and that many genuine fans end up not getting tickets.
_____________________________________________________________________

To think that in 2004 Donegal and Armagh brought 70k people to Croke Park for an Ulster final!

benjyyy (Donegal) - Posts: 1422 - 08/08/2014 16:22:28    1633526

08/08/2014 16:20:07
icehonesty
County: Wexford
Posts: 1631

1633523
I'm moving apartment and won't have Sky Sports in the new place. Won't get to see big games now. Not happy.

God life must be so tough for you.

Heaven forbid they might just show it in the local..

LordLizzie (USA) - Posts: 23 - 08/08/2014 16:30:54    1633527

HighKing81

Just highlights how ridiculous the pro-Sky arguments were at the time with lads claiming that Murdoch's crowd would make TV3 look amatuerish

In fairness you can't lump all pro-sky people into that one category, I support the Sky deal but that has absolutely nothing to do with their actual coverage of the games. I knew full well they wouldn't be anything special but that's not what Sky is offering the Gaa at the minute, it's them offering a chance at a much bigger audience abroad, it may not work of course but why not try if the opportunity arises.

I was for the Sky deal at the time and still am due to the potential for our games to grow abroad but if in 3 years time it proves to have been fruitless then I have no problem with the Gaa pulling the plug on Sky.

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 08/08/2014 16:43:39    1633543

Less Irish people are now watching our sports.

FACT.


There are still 31 games of the All-Ireland Championships shown live on RTE. In my opinion that is more than enough to promote our games in Ireland.

Maestro (Meath) - Posts: 569 - 08/08/2014 16:48:31    1633545

wont be a problem when meath play cos i go to all the matches. what i do miss is being able to see the likes of this weekends matches because i cant afford sky sports & dont want (cant afford) to be stuck in a pub on a saturday afternoon. i work with a few gaa heads like meself from different counties & whereas last year we would all be talkin bout the previous weekends games, it doesnt happen now cos we havent seen them. sure maybe il get more work done at home & this sky deal will save me marriage :-)))

royal69er (Meath) - Posts: 96 - 08/08/2014 18:20:07    1633576

So, the Sky coverage hasn't been great,BUT, they didn't get good games. I think they got a bad deal, and maybe didn't have a good enough knowledge of the GAA in the first place to negotiate a good deal. Maybe. Certainly some of the hurling matches they got, well, they would have been hard to make exciting anyway.

The big problem is, their coverage was aimed at the Irish market, not the British one. It was to keep up Irish Sky Sports subscriptions during the summer. They wanted some level of exclusive coverage to achieve that aim, but they'll never get exclusive coverage to the biggest matches.

I never liked the exclusivity of the deal, I think the company already has too much of a foothold in Ireland, and I'd rather people not be forced to subscribe to them to see their county play in the championship.
That said, I wouldn't have any objection to Sky showing the games if they didn't have exclusivity on Ireland, and I think that might actually be a better option for Sky too.

If Sky had non-exclusive rights to show all games in Ireland, and exclusive rights to all games in Britain, they might do much better. At least then they'd have the best games to work with, and could present them better. So in Britain at least, they'd have something better to work with.
In Ireland, even though they'd have no exclusive rights to games, and RTE could also show any games Sky were broadcasting, they'd still be able to sell a better product. And Irish people who like how Sky does things, would still have the option of subscribing if they wanted to, and watching the games on Sky. And then people would at least have a choice.

So I actually think having non-exclusive rights in Ireland would serve Sky better. At the moment, what they have is neither here nor there.

Marlon_JD (Tipperary) - Posts: 1823 - 08/08/2014 19:18:01    1633601

icehonesty
County: Wexford
Posts: 1631

1633523
I'm moving apartment and won't have Sky Sports in the new place. Won't get to see big games now. Not happy.

Why?

Is there a rule in the apartment complex that you can't but a sky sports subscription?

uibhfhaili1986 (Offaly) - Posts: 1296 - 08/08/2014 20:19:21    1633622

08/08/2014 19:18:01 Marlon_JD
So, the Sky coverage hasn't been great,BUT, they didn't get good games. I think they got a bad deal, and maybe didn't have a good enough knowledge of the GAA in the first place to negotiate a good deal. Maybe. Certainly some of the hurling matches they got, well, they would have been hard to make exciting anyway. The big problem is, their coverage was aimed at the Irish market, not the British one. It was to keep up Irish Sky Sports subscriptions during the summer. They wanted some level of exclusive coverage to achieve that aim, but they'll never get exclusive coverage to the biggest matches. I never liked the exclusivity of the deal, I think the company already has too much of a foothold in Ireland, and I'd rather people not be forced to subscribe to them to see their county play in the championship.
That said, I wouldn't have any objection to Sky showing the games if they didn't have exclusivity on Ireland, and I think that might actually be a better option for Sky too. If Sky had non-exclusive rights to show all games in Ireland, and exclusive rights to all games in Britain, they might do much better. At least then they'd have the best games to work with, and could present them better. So in Britain at least, they'd have something better to work with. In Ireland, even though they'd have no exclusive rights to games, and RTE could also show any games Sky were broadcasting, they'd still be able to sell a better product. And Irish people who like how Sky does things, would still have the option of subscribing if they wanted to, and watching the games on Sky. And then people would at least have a choice.

So I actually think having non-exclusive rights in Ireland would serve Sky better. At the moment, what they have is neither here nor there. What is wrong with Sky having a foothold in Ireland? Perhaps they didn't get a good deal of games, they were unfortunate that some games were either poor or whitewashes but what can you do. It probably was to do with some irish subscribers dropping in summer and if they kept more than they would have without the GAA coverage then they'll be happy. They have another year plus on the deal so hopefully they'll keep on improving...
What exactly is wrong with them having exclusivity? The deal wouldn't be worthwhile without having exclusivity on some games. Without exclusivity to some games they wont get more subscribers/viewers...

icehonesty
I'm moving apartment and won't have Sky Sports in the new place. Won't get to see big games now. Not happy.
08/08/2014 20:19:21 uibhfhaili1986
Why?
Is there a rule in the apartment complex that you can't but a sky sports subscription? Assume icehonesty cant get satellite put up in apartment block? Some Apartment complexs don't allow it...

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 08/08/2014 21:24:08    1633641

Sky have a better set of presenters and analysts, I mean the likes of Brolly and Mc Hugh Vs. Canavan and the Sparrow, no contest

suckvalleypaddy (Galway) - Posts: 1674 - 09/08/2014 09:53:47    1633689