Exclusive: GAA proposes to buy RTÉ's 50% share of GAAGO
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The GAA is taking a step closer to creating its own broadcasting arm by proposing to buy RTÉ out of their 50% share of premium streaming service GAAGO.
As the reported on Wednesday afternoon, negotiations will soon begin on the sports organisation purchasing the pay-per-view platform in its entirety. It is a business which in 2023 generated €5.23m in revenue for the jointly-owned company, an increase of over 100% from €2.6m the previous year.
It's not an unexpected move by the GAA who despite public backlash to major championship games like this past May’s Cork-Limerick Munster senior hurling game being put behind a paywall have recognised the strength and potential of the venture.
In October, the GAAGO accounts for the 2023 financial year showed they earned €4.96m in subscriptions and sponsorship of €273,437. Pre-tax profits jumped by nearly 50% from €595,750 to €874,047.
The establishment of GAATV is now considered a real prospect by Croke Park, although the GAA will first have to iron out a deal with RTÉ.
However, the national broadcaster may be relieved to avoid another year of criticism and suggestions that their involvement in GAAGO was a TV licence increase by stealth.
The GAA’s move to take over GAAGO completely comes as the also confirmed the “over-the-top” platform will retain the two championship media right packages the GAA made available in August.
The tranches were open to tender for the next two years and TG4 confirmed they had made a bid, believed to be aimed at acquiring the six-game package including the All-Ireland senior football quarter-finals and a Munster SHC game.
However, interested parties have been informed that GAAGO, possibly under a new name, will continue to show those games as well as the eight-game package, which includes several Saturday matches.
Contacted on Wednesday, the GAA did not refer to the approach to RTÉ to buy their GAAGO share but acknowledged the championship media rights deals would be retained.
“The GAA has decided to retain the rights for the media packages in question for the domestic market and a recently appointed advisory group will examine how they can be best utilised.”
RTÉ had no comment to make and stated queries should be referred “in this instance to GAA as the rights holder”.
In the absence of Sky Sports whose nine-year relationship with the GAA ended in 2022, the Association has been determined to retrieve media rights money it had lost.
Last year, the GAA’s accounts showed their broadcast revenue had dropped by over €3.7m, from €16.58m to €12.85m, partly as a result of Sky’s departure.
It had been reported the GAA had come under pressure from the State’s competition watchdog, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, to resubmit the two smaller championship deals to the market.
However, Croke Park sources denied those claims.
The GAA’s decision is a blow for TG4 who televise GAA games almost year round including the Allianz Leagues, All-Ireland club championships and U20 and minor provincial and All-Ireland fixtures.
It remains to be seen if the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media continue to be interested in making all four All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals available free to air.
Outgoing minister Catherine Martin had indicated support for making sure all GAA senior championship matches from the quarter-final stages be televised live on terrestrial TV.
In his annual report released in February, GAA director general Tom Ryan confirmed the organisation would oppose the move.
“It would remove our right to negotiate and would have a seriously detrimental impact on our finances and our operations. We will be making a submission on the matter.”
Several politicians including Martin’s junior minister Thomas Byrne as well as Micheál Martin and Simon Harris had called on more major GAA games to be shown free-to-air.
Martin said he had “huge concerns about it, I don’t understand it, in terms of the promotion of the game of hurling” while Harris claimed the GAA had “gotten it wrong”.
In July last year, GAA chief Ryan told a joint Oireachtas committee that “the expectation that every single game should be on television is just not realistic. It's not in our interest, and not in our plans.”
As a result of the GAA retaining their packages, it’s expected the streaming platform’s season ticket deals, which had in the previous couple of years had been advertised in early December, will be promoted in the coming weeks.
Noel Quinn, the GAA’s former media rights manager, was appointed as head of GAAGO in May 2023.
Prior to the pandemic, the GAA had been considering the possibility of transforming the former shop on the front of Hogan Stand of Croke Park on Jones Road into a broadcasting studio. That plan may yet be taken off the backburner.