Sky deal will force RTÉ’s hand, declares Murphy

Cork County Board secretary Frank Murphy believes that the GAA’s new television deal with Sky will force RTÉ to improve its own output with regard to hurling and football.

At last night’s board meeting in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, delegates gave mixed views on the new arrangement, which will see Sky cover 14 games on an exclusive basis. In pointing out that most of these matches will be in addition to, rather than replacing, current coverage, Murphy also took aim at the attention RTÉ give to Gaelic games.

“Last year, there were 94 senior inter-county games played,” he said, “and only 40 were televised by anybody, with 54 not shown at all.