The future of GAAGO has been cast into doubt after the GAA invited “expressions of interest” to broadcast All-Ireland Senior Football and Hurling Championship games.
A joint project between the GAA and RTE, GAAGO is a subscription-based platform and restricts many games from being broadcast free-to-air. However, the rights of games shown on the streaming service could leave the door open for a variety of potential bidders to make their interest known, including Amazon, TNT Sports, Premier Sports, TG4 and the BBC.
First launched in 2014, the platform has come under criticism in recent times, including from prominent politicians, due to the volume of games placed outside free-to-air coverage, with Taoiseach Simon Harris stating that the GAA had “gotten it wrong” over the decision to put certain Championship games behind a €79 (£67.93) package.
That criticism was met with a passionate defence by Association President Jarlath Burns in May, who told RTE Radio 1 he was “very surprised” to hear those views from the Taoiseach.
“If you try to imagine a world without GAAGO, the rest of these games just would not be broadcast because we only have one broadcast partner (RTE),” he said.
The floor also remains open for GAAGO to extend their rights package and the GAA have defended the service, saying that it is of the essence as part of the sport’s financial and commercial future.