TV stations set for league showdown

ARMCHAIR GAA fans will be spoilt for choice this spring by a highly unusual broadcasting arrangement which will see rival TV stations simultaneously air different National League games.

TG4 will again be broadcasting live Sunday afternoon games throughout the NFL and NHL campaigns and will have first pick on the fixtures to show. However, Setanta has also been granted the rights to four live Sunday games and the GAA has stipulated that all the Sunday games must begin at 2.30pm.

“It is odd,” said Ronan O Coisdealbha, TG4’s sports editor. “Obviously it’s not us that set that. That’s a question for the GAA but it doesn’t really affect our coverage. We’ll come on air at two o’clock.

“We’ll have a live match at half two, a deferred match at four o’clock and we will also be showing the Setanta game from Saturday night so we’ll be on air until 7pm.”

O Coisdealbha said only time will tell how the arrangement will affect their audience share but there is no doubt but that a staggered programme would suit everybody far better.

The GAA will be holding a meeting next Tuesday to discuss the live TV fixtures for the National Leagues but there has been no indication that any throw-in times will be moved to accommodate the competing stations.

This isn’t the first time rival TV stations have battled for the attention of the GAA audience on the same day. Last summer saw games screened live by both RTÉ and TV3 for the first time though the ties did not overlap.

Meanwhile, Setanta have already announced the details of most of their National League coverage, apart from the four live Sunday fixtures, while TG4 are expected to release their provisional fixture list today.

Setanta’s live broadcasts will begin with the floodlit Croke Park NFL encounter between Tyrone and Dublin on January, Saturday 31 and they have also pencilled in the NHL clash between Tipperary and Cork a fortnight later.

TG4’s coverage of the McKenna Cup begins this Sunday with the Donegal-Fermanagh game live from Ballyshannon while it has also been revealed that the Irish-language channel will show the final of the O’Byrne Cup live after the tournament was dropped from Setanta’s schedule.

TG4 will also make a decision next month on whether or not to commission a seventh series of the Underdogs series — indications are that they will — but their upcoming GAA coverage will also include a special 10-part documentary series chronicling the history of the Association to celebrate the GAA’s 125th anniversary this year.

Drawing extensively on newsreel, film and television archive, the first episode will be aired this Sunday evening with the programme being repeated every Friday. Each episode will also be available up to five weeks after its initial broadcast on www.tg4.tv.