Only seven games from this year's Ulster, Leinster, Munster and Connacht SFC are going to be aired live on television.

RTE are showing all four provincial finals as well as Mayo V Galway this weekend, one Ulster semi-final and one Leinster semi-final. The remainder of the 22 provincial matches played out over the course of the summer will not be broadcast live.

This is a massive reduction compared to previous years, with a Dublin match to be overlooked for the first time since 2006, while the huge Ulster first-round meeting of Tyrone and Monaghan has not been taken up by either RTE or Sky Sports.

The situation has arisen because - despite the wholesale changes to the format of the championship, with the introduction of the Super 8s in football and round-robin games in the Munster and Leinster SHCs - the existing TV rights deal of 45 games has not been revised.

Thus, RTE will show 25 games, Sky have the rights to 14 and six will be shared by both broadcasters. With so many quality hurling games early in the season and the Super 8s coming later, these matches have been selected at the expense of the provincial football games.

In the first eight weeks of the championship, starting this Sunday, there are two live games each weekend. Of those first sixteen live games, just four are football, with 12 live hurling games to be shown up until June 17. 

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