No answers a year into watchdog’s GAAGO inquiries
Minister says he is ‘shocked’ and calls for some urgent clarification from the GAA and RTÉ
● The competition watchdog is still carrying out inquiries into GAAGO, one year after concerns were raised that the streaming platform did not have clearance from it.
Junior sports minister Thomas Byrne said last night he was “shocked” and called for urgent clarification.
The GAAGO saga is likely to reignite again for another bumper GAA weekend.
The competition watchdog is still carrying out inquiries into GAAGO, a year after concerns were raised that the streaming platform did not have clearance from the watchdog.
The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) only gave its blessing to the joint venture between RTÉ and the GAA on the basis that consumers in Ireland would be “entirely unaffected” by the streaming platform, which was originally designed only to show games to people living abroad.
Last night, junior sports minister Thomas Byrne called for urgent clarification on the matter, saying it was an issue of “significant” public concern. Mr Byrne said he was “shocked” and had assumed the CCPC had no issues with the project.
The GAAGO controversy is likely to reignite this weekend, with more popular championship games only being available to watch behind a paywall.
Today, every senior championship match being broadcast will only be shown on GAAGO. Fans who want to see Kerry play Monaghan or Galway take on Derry in the senior football championship, or those keen to watch Dublin play Kilkenny in the senior hurling championship, will need a subscription to GAAGO. Tomorrow, both Munster senior hurling championship matches will be shown on free-to-air TV.
In 2017, the CCPC signed off on GAAGO, specifically because it “only concerns the licensing of international digital media rights”. At the time, GAAGO was only designed to sell games to people living abroad.
The CCPC said that because customers in Ireland would be “entirely unaffected” by the venture, it did not raise any competition concerns. The CCPC said that GAAGO, as an international streaming project, would not “substantially lessen competition in any market for goods or services in the State”.
In 2022, GAAGO won the rights to exclusively broadcast 38 championship matches behind a paywall for the 2023 season, the first time the platform had a direct interest in the domestic distribution of its own content. This followed Sky walking away from a nine-year relationship with the GAA.
GAAGO’s first year as a domestic broadcaster of gaelic games soon attracted controversy, as the public and politicians took issue with popular games being placed behind a paywall.
It then emerged that last May, the CCPC had launched inquiries into GAAGO. Declan McBennett, group head of sport in RTÉ, confirmed to an Oireachtas committee last year that this meant GAAGO was operating without clearance from the CCPC.
RTÉ would later claim it had received legal advice that suggested it did not need further clearance. But it has now emerged that the CCPC has still not finished its inquiries into GAAGO.
“The CCPC has engaged with the parties on this matter and continues to do so. No further information can be provided at this time,” a spokeswoman said.
When asked for comment, a spokesman for the GAA suggested it was experiencing a “daily Q and A” from the Irish Independent, and proposed that this publication might send all of its queries for the week in on a Friday, to be responded to by Croke Park the following week.
“I had assumed that this had received clearance from the CPPC,” Mr Byrne said. “And I’m absolutely shocked that it hasn’t yet, and it’s in operation. I think the GAA and RTÉ should make a statement in relation to this. Competition law is there to protect the consumer and we need to hear from both organisations as to what the exact position is.”
Last week, GAA president Jarlath Burns claimed he had a recent meeting with Mr Byrne, where no complaints or issues with GAAGO were raised.
“I’m not going to go into a private conversation,” Mr Byrne said.
“I think the GAA need to make a statement on where things stand. It’s a matter of significant public interest.”
A spokesperson for media minister Catherine Martin said: “As this is an ongoing enquiry by an independent statutory body, it would not be appropriate for the minister or the department to comment prior to the CCPC concluding its inquiries.”
Earlier this week, the GAA also took issue with journalists asking questions that it felt were better directed at GAAGO, “which has its own management structure”. But when asked who was the best person to answer questions about GAAGO, journalists were directed back to the GAA.
A political row over GAAGO erupted last week, when Taoiseach Simon Harris criticised the decision to put the Limerick v Cork hurling match behind a paywall. The GAA on behalf of GAAGO has declined to say how many subscribers it has, and how many people watched the hurling championship clash on its streaming service last Saturday.
According to its 2022 financial accounts, GAAGO had sponsorship income of €2.3m from subscriptions that year. This was when it exclusively broadcast games to an international audience. Its profit after tax was just over €500,000. This would have been split equally between RTÉ and the GAA.
GAAGO originally had three directors from RTÉ, and three from the GAA. Former director general Dee Forbes resigned as a director of GAAGO last summer and has not been replaced. Currently, two of the streaming service’s five directors are from RTÉ and three are from the GAA.
All of this began in 2022, when Sky tried to negotiate a new rights deal with the GAA. One of the people who would have been responsible for selling the rights at the time was Noel Quinn, the GAA’s former head of marketing who is now head of GAAGO. (“Your question suggests a conflict of interest but I can confirm no such conflict existed,” the GAA said.)
Showing GAA for almost nine years had been great for Sky, which often tended to show Saturday night matches. Sky sources suggest there was “very much” a willingness from the broadcaster to continue its relationship with the GAA. In fact, it wanted more games.
It’s understood Sky went into negotiations looking for the rights to 32 games – 16 championship and 16 league. This was almost double the number of games it had bought previously. The GAA considered this, but in the end only offered Sky the rights to 16 games. Then this was reduced further, to just 13 games. For Sky, it didn’t make commercial sense. The broadcaster walked away.
According to sources at Virgin Media and TG4, after the relationship with Sky ended, neither of the free-to-air channels were offered the chance to buy the rights to the same games. The GAA contests this, claiming all broadcasters were told they had the chance to bid on any and all packages.
This week, when the Irish Independent reported that TG4 would have liked the opportunity to try to buy the rights to championship games, the GAA issued a statement that suggested TG4 couldn’t afford them. Croke Park said if the GAA was “prepared to give away our rights for free,” then all broadcasters would want them.
Last year, those behind GAAGO denied the matches being put behind a paywall were “cherry-picked” to drive profit. But this week, the rhetoric changed.
In response to political criticism, GAA president Jarlath Burns this week said he would make no apologies for putting big games behind a paywall in order to drive profits for GAAGO.
“I think the GAA need to make a statement on where things stand. It’s a matter of significant public interest”