GAA Director General Tom Ryan claimed during testimony that the association had no control in the selection of games that are placed as pay-per-view or free-to-air services, amid political criticism of key fixtures being placed behind a paywall.

He said that certain commentary on Croke Park’s management and operation of the platform was “not fair”.

Mayo TD Alan Dillon said that despite evidence from both RTÉ and the GAA yesterday, he stood over earlier comments that stakeholders are behaving “in a cartel-like manner” particularly by “cherry-picking” top GAA matches for subscription audiences, to drive profit.

In a stunning admission, both organisations admitted that GAAGO was operating without the approval of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC), a body bound by legislation.

Almost all of the focus of yesterday’s hearings into the future of sports broadcasting was centred on GAAGO, with the spotlight on Tom Ryan and RTÉ’s Head of Sport Declan McBennett.

The GAA DG revealed that broadcasting of matches earned the GAA 22% of its overall revenue, while GAAGO earnings represented 10-15% of that total.

He said that for the current season the total audience for the platform had reached approximately 1.3m over 42 games, which averages at 30,000 viewers per fixture.

However, some matches exceeded 100,000 viewers, while lower-profile fixtures were seen by as few as 1,000 people.

Committee members also questioned RTÉ and the GAA about the lack of free-to-air coverage of All-Ireland Champions Kerry this year, most notably Brendan Griffin TD.

Declan McBennett explained that while only one Kerry match was shown on RTÉ, he cited the uncompetitive nature of some of Kerry’s fixtures as a factor.

The first half of the session saw Tom Ryan take all the heat, as his IRFU and FAI counterparts - who were also part of the discussion - enjoyed relatively little attention on their sports.

Accompanied by GAA Commercial Director Peter McKenna, Mr Ryan was asked by Deputy Dillon about the decision-making process in selecting games to be put on air.

Tom Ryan said the CCCC (Central Competitions Control Committee) influenced what fixtures are shown free-to-air or pay-per-view and that such decision-making was out of the GAA and RTÉ control.

He said RTÉ’s “traditional slot is Sunday” and therefore key games which are assigned to Sunday go to the national broadcaster.

“GAAGO has typically looked at the Saturday fixtures, so by and large, if a game is on a Saturday that’s more than likely GAAGO, if it’s on a Sunday, it’s RTÉ,” explained Mr Ryan.

He denied that games were selected based on how much extra revenue they might pull in through subscriptions to GAAGO.

“It’s not fair, and it has been characterised in the past - ‘RTÉ pick which games’ or ‘GAAGO pick…’ – we don’t pick based on revenue, contracts are signed at the start of the year so we’ll earn the same revenue irrespective of what games are shown.” 

When asked by Deputy Dillon why GAAGO had “taken over the Saturday market, completely”, Tom Ryan said under its previous arrangement with Sky, the broadcaster had access to games on Saturdays, and those slots were simply now with its own subscription service.

However, the former Mayo captain pointed out that “the plum ties, the Limerick-Clares, the Kerry-Mayos, the Galway-Armagh games have now been put on Saturday”.

“So there’s no conflict of interest here between the GAA and RTÉ in terms of trying to maximise subscriptions by putting these games on a Saturday?” asked the representative.

“No, there’s not,” responded Ryan. “I think that perception – and I can understand it, and I get it as well – but I think it’s a little bit unfair.

“If you look at the Championship as a whole, finals in both codes, semi-finals in both codes, quarter-finals in both codes (with the exception of two games) – the games at the crunch end of both championships are on RTÉ and they’re free-to-air.” 

Deputy Dillon emphasised that the issue with attractive matches behind a paywall was “causing huge frustration amongst people”.

Imelda Munster asked if Virgin Media had been approached to take up the GAAGO rights, at which point Tom Ryan called in the support of Peter McKenna.

“Virgin Media were contacted on several occasions,” said McKenna.

However, Paul Farrell MD of Virgin Media said, in the second session, that while it had been in negotiation with the GAA for the first half of last year, there had been no further offer of GAA fixtures when Sky Ireland decided to walk away from its rights at the end of the year.

CONFUSION

BEFORE these hearings into GAAGO, there have been a lot of question marks around transparency and accountability of the jointly run subscription model for GAA rights.

Now there’s even some confusion about the legality of the service.

In an extraordinary development yesterday, Deputy Imelda Munster first asked the GAA, then RTÉ, if GAA was operating a business which did not have appropriate legislative approval through the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC).

Ms Munster pointed out that because the GAAGO business had changed, and it’s no longer just a vehicle for overseas audiences, it must surely have the correct permission under competition rules.

In a remarkable sequence of questions to RTÉ Head of Sport Declan McBennett, Deputy Munster asked if he knew whether GAAGO had the required approval to operate.

“So are you telling us here today that the new system where you’re putting games, that are played within Ireland behind a paywall, that you’re actually operating that system without clearance from the CPCC?” 

Declan McBennett initially responded: “No.”

“Factually, factually now Mr McBennett, you’re operating without clearance as it stands, at the minute,” she stated.

He then answered that his understanding was that “clearance had not been formalised”.

“So you’re operating without clearance,” continued the Sinn Fein TD, before encouraging her subject: “It’s easy to say yes” - to which Mr McBennett responded: “Yeah.”