We wonder will Gary Neville be doing any analysis…
The Gaelic Athletic Association have confirmed in a statement today that for the next few years, you can now get your fix of the Championship on Sky Sports.
“Within Ireland, a total of 45 provincial and All-Ireland championship matches will be broadcast live on television annually for the next three years: a total of 31 games will be shown by RTÉ (as per the last contract) and 14 by Sky Sports”, read the statement from the GAA.
But not to fear if you’re not a subscriber to the Sky sporting package, as RTÉ have held on to the biggest games of the season, with the All-Ireland finals and semi-finals in both codes remaining on the national broadcaster (as well as Sky), while the All-Ireland hurling quarter-finals, and two of the four All-Ireland football quarter-finals will also be shown on RTÉ.
This is the first step into the market for Sky, who have been rumoured for a while to be taking over, but they could inject the usual hype and hyperbole into the whole thing, which the lads at Gift Grub have parodied superbly with this excellent re-imagining of Soccer Saturday.
For those of you living in Australia, there’s good news as Channel 7 will be showing all 45 games free to air for the huge Irish community over there, with Sky taking care of the British market for the expats who have left these shores to head across the water.
In case you wanted a glimpse into the future of what it all might look like, there’s a little one just over here. Let the bidding war for Joe Brolly’s services commence!
