Democracy is the greatest gift we could give ourselves as a society, but at times its operation can also be a pain in the whats-its.
We understand in sport that the bulk of work in preparing for the biggest of days takes place away from the spotlight and we can only hope that the occasional promised additional information and subsequent discussion to yesterday’s Oireachtas Committee for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media will lead to a better understanding of what was the topic, lest we forget, of the Future of Sports Broadcasting in Ireland.
We carried an MBM (minute by minute) report of proceedings yesterday which sought to capture the best part of three and a half hours of long questions and frustratingly short time to answer that was given to the multiple public, sporting and media representatives.
Niamh Smyth is a very likable and competent Chair of this committee but there must be times when she questions the procedure that yesterday only allowed each TD or Senator four minutes to have questions asked and answers given.
Some are very good, well prepared and very focused. The Player of the Match Award in this committee and in many others we have had the ‘pleasure’ to observe live goes to Sinn Féin TD Imelda Munster.
She didn’t regale everybody with stories of old men struggling with Broadband issues in rural Ireland. A serious issue for sure but let’s focus here.
She didn’t wax lyrical about the wonder of David Clifford and all things Kerry, but then again she’s not from Kerry and the Kingdom folk do like to wax a bit about their favourite sons and daughters.
She didn’t wish any of the various Irish teams and players that are competing around the world well, that we can remember, and despite being from Louth she did not take umbrage at a slight made in passing by an RTÉ commentator about facilities in Ardee.
She did though ask pertinent questions about the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission approval of the GAAGo service being broadcast in Ireland as opposed to overseas.
The CCPC says itself that “With a broad remit, and limited resources, the CCPC must prioritise the work it does, along with carrying out its statutory functions.”
We do not know if there has been any form of complaint made about the extended number of live games now being made available to GAA viewers, or whether the paywall of GAAGo is seen as in some way more odious than that of Sky Sports or eir Sport that have shown games for over a decade.
RTÉ Head of Sport Declan McBennett (pictured above listening patiently) did reply that the Commission had been kept appraised of all changes to the broadcasting of games and while no formal approval had been given, that no issue had arisen either.
For full disclosure Sport for Business has also never been given formal approval by the CCPC. We are not worried, yet, but then again we haven’t been called before the Oireachtas committee.
To be fair we did learn a few things yesterday. Both Virgin Media and RTÉ support the enhanced relationship that allows for the Six Nations and Rugby World Cup to be shared and broadcast free to air in their entirety.
Virgin and the GAA did have early discussions about replacing Sky in the current media rights cycle but there was no appetite to invest in the production of the coverage and there might have been a bit of mischief in crying foul when the contract was awarded to those willing to do so.
There was a broad level of support for the idea of a return to a ‘Sports Stadium’ style multi-sport programme. It’s on wikipedia for those who don’t remember seeing the show last broadcast 26 years ago, and maybe our memories are a little sepia tinged on what it delivered in a world where live sport was a rarity.
Nonetheless TD’s including former Sports Minister Brendan Griffin thought it was a good suggestion from the Federation of Irish Sport. Indeed it was flying along until Declan McBennett, maybe with his blood up in frustration at the limited ability to answer questions suggested that the focus of audiences was very firmly on live sporting programmes, and that there was little appetite for that style of programme any more. Worth looking at but the reality is that streaming live is the future and packaged programmes, though nice for sporting bodies and maybe sponsors, may be more of a nostalgia thing.
We could be writing for as long as Danny Healy Rae waited before making a late arrival to talk about Kerry but time is precious so we’ll just round up with three figures that were of genuine interest, largely about GAAGo and RTÉ, but that was also where 90 per cent of the conversation was.
As an aside Jonathan Hill, Kevin Potts, Mark Scanlon, Padraig Power, Paul McDermott and Fergus Hannigan have certainly had busier afternoons.
But back to the three things, this rambling can be contagious.
We heard first of all that the total live sports coverage on RTÉ in 2019 amounted to 653 hours, in 2022 that had risen to 852, and in 2023 it was likely to exceed 1,000 hours. All free-to-air and something we are fortunate to have, unlike most of our EU colleagues.
Secondly, we learned that GAAGo revenue for 2023 was in or around €4 million, broadly in line with the amount the Sky deal had produced. That’s a positive figure, though it does have significant cost involved, so the net figure needs to be considered as a long term investment as opposed to an immediate golden egg.
In ten years time it is the model that every sport, all the way up to the Premier League will most likely be adopting. We are ahead of the game unless populist uprisings bring it crashing down.
Finally, we got a sense of the streaming numbers the service has attracted. getting these numbers from any streaming service, from Netflix to Apple, is like searching for diamonds in the sand at Derrynane, though enough kerry references.
We learned that 1.3 million viewers have watched, that the biggest viewership of the 42 games (a nicely serendipitous number in GAA terms) was 120,000 for the Kerry Tyrone game but that others had been down around the 1,000 or 1,500 mark.
And finally, the service will be reviewed in full. Accessibility and pricing will be in the mix, points of interest and concern were noted and within the blink of an eye, Niamh Smyth brought matters to a close.
The Dáil rise this week for its summer break but the work of the committees carry on, God bless them.
