Picture Perfect
GLEN KILLANE is like an expectant father this week. RTÉ’s group head of sport is tired, nervous and excited as he races from Montrose meeting room to meeting room ahead of the delivery of the station’s most ambitious GAA championship coverage plans.
This is Killane’s baby. He already has high hopes for the summer ahead and isn’t slow to talk up his pride and joy.
“I think our coverage stands head and shoulder above everything domestically. We are constantly trying to invigorate our programming, it always needs to be refreshed. We are very proud of what we have achieved, but that doesn’t mean we are resting on our laurels.
“The opposite is the case. This season we have invested a huge amount of money in statistics packages and graphics. We have brought in new sideline reporters and new analysts in DJ Carey and Anthony Daly. But these are another stage in the process. Three years ago we took the studio on the road for big championship games. Before that everything was anchored out of Montrose. But by getting out there we can bring more of the championship atmosphere to the public. It is the only sport that we do that for.”
This is a most audacious championship schedule with coverage of every single game in the championship. The cynical might say it is because their existing contract with the GAA ends after the All-Ireland SFC Final. Then there is the not so small matter of Setanta Sports.
The subscription outfit have spent the past few months punching above their weight, leaving heavyweights Sky and BBC nursing some very public bruises.
Killane admitted: “The renegotiating of the rights is at the back of all our minds. My appointment of Group Head of Sports was also meant to create a more coherent strategy towards all sports, and pulling all areas together across all the platforms — radio, television, online and news. So, for example, during the championship, not alone will Michael Lyster be on television, but he will also be radio or on the web. The same applies to Colm O’Rourke or Joe Brolly, or any of our team. What is unique about RTE is that we can offer all of this across all of these different platforms.”
Despite Setanta’s growing availability on NTL and Chorus packages, and their successful venture into Saturday night League coverage, the RTE boss naturally is keen to stress one point.
“They are a pay tv offering. What we are about is a quality production free to air. Pay tv is not about bums on seats. It is about answering to shareholders. We are batting on the side of the public — they are in essence our shareholders.
“We have upped our performance again, but not because of Setanta. We are constantly improving or trying to improve. Viewing figures have constantly risen in relation to live and highlights programming over the last couple of years. From the day we started the last contract we started making more and more investments. Where we are now is part of that progression.”
Technology is aiding Killane’s master plan. Broadband web access and third generation phone networks allow faster download speeds and more options for a growing tech saavy audience hungry for a GAA fix.
“We will be using the internet and the broadband technology in a much more active way. We will be streaming all games live on web, and we will offer a seven-day catch-up service which means people can access a game they may have missed for up to seven days after it was first broadcast.
“We will also be making all our radio commentaries fully available on the web. So a listener who wants to get all of the days news and updates can listen to the radio coverage on Sunday Sport, or if they prefer to concentrate on just one of the commentary games they can listen to the full uninterrupted version on the website.”
Even RTE were taken aback last year when the replay of the Munster Final between Kerry and Cork — broadcast solely on the web as it clashed with two live games — attracted record audiences.
“The website is about flexibility,” the RTE chief continued. “It is more than about audio and video. It is about columns and opinions from the panellists and the experts. It is about interaction from the public and feedback from the fans. We will also have a new sports show between six and seven on Sunday evenings fronted by Con Murphy with an invited panel that will be fully interactive and very similar to the BBC Five Live 606 programme.
“Such coverage doesn’t come easily, or cheaply on the busy Sundays: “We have four of five outside broadcast units with approximately 30 people per OB. Back in Dublin you have a production team in television of 25. Then you take into account about 15 on radio, four of five in the online section, and two or three in news and you are pushing upwards of 150 people working on GAA on one day.”
But is there a fear that with all of these options that soon the GAA will reach saturation point coverage wise.
“There have been recent reports on the number of games which we show, and some would suggest that we are unable to cover more due to scheduling issues. In fact our current contract precludes us from showing more than three games live at a weekend.
“Quite rightly the GAA are very protective of their rights. You need only look at the Premiership and see that because of the all the games much of it is no longer seen as a special thing. We could schedule more matches, but we are limited by our contract — not by anything else. As a television person I would like to see more games, but I fully understand where the GAA is coming from.”
With the GAA becoming more and more aware of their worth — and the arrival of Setanta into the market place — the next contract negotiations will be amongst the most intense yet.
“We want to sort the contract and guarantee that the Irish public can see games free to air. We are putting significant resources into our coverage of the championship. This has cultural, historical and political ramifications. We will do everything we can to secure the rights,” Killane says.
“That is the plan, and to keep constantly delivering new audiences, not just for the championship, but across the board in GAA. We are not sitting down for another few months, and I would hope that a deal will be done by Christmas.”
FINALLY, the one question that seems to be nagging the nation: can the original Sunday Game theme tune rise like a phoenix from the ashes and can we all hum along again as we did in our youth? “The banter is great,” he says of an unlikely three-year-old controversy that has spawned numerous online campaigns.
“It just shows how much people care. The debate over the theme tune shows that people feel they have ownership of The Sunday Game. The fact that they got so upset is that they are part of it. Our viewpoint when we changed it three years ago was that we needed to leave the past behind if we were to turn the show into a 21st century product. We are 80% there in terms of what I want from the coverage, and hopefully we will gain an extra few percent this year. But, no, we wouldn’t be going back to the old Sunday Game tune.”
This is the 29th year of The Sunday Game on RTÉ Television.
16 weeks are spent behind the scenes preparing for the season.
RTÉ will have 146 hours of GAA programming with the likelihood of more with replays and extra qualifiers shown.
There is an average staff of 55 working behind the scenes each weekend, including directors, producers, editors, sub editors, OB Truck personnel, assistant producers, broadcast coordinators, graphics operators, etc.
Staff face a 14-hour day each Sunday starting at 9am and finishing at 11pm.
The RTÉ’s Sunday Game team will feature 17 panellists throughout the season.
The Sunday Game panellists have won over 26 All Ireland medals between them (not including Pat Spillane’s 8).
An average of three OB Trucks will be used every weekend to broadcast coverage from around the country.
An average of 15 camera positions are used to relay all the action for matches in Croke Park, with even more being used for major games and finals.
RTÉ’s Sunday Game receives reports on championship matches from up to 10 different locations each weekend.
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