RTÉ happy to show rival’s GAA ads

RTÉ has explained why it had no issue airing rival station Sky Sports’ new championship advertisement last night.

The GAA’s three-year agreement with the Rupert Murdoch-owned multinational company came in for heavy criticism across a number of RTÉ programmes, including PrimeTime last month.

It was suggested the organisation’s chiefs had sold out after agreeing to provide Sky with 14 live championship games as well as simultaneous broadcasting rights for the All-Ireland senior football and hurling semi-finals with RTÉ.

However, that hasn’t stopped the national broadcaster accepting a fee from Sky to run the ad, featuring last year’s players of the year in Dublin footballer Michael Darragh Macauley and Clare hurler Tony Kelly, in Croke Park.

It also comes in the wake of Montrose’s decision not to air Newstalk’s ‘Move The Dial’ ads, which has seen the Denis O’Brien-owned radio station threaten legal action against the national broadcaster.

However, RTÉ, which has its own ‘It’s Yours’ Sunday Game GAA championship promotion campaign, explained it has no issue with Sky’s ‘See GAA Differently’ ad as it is doesn’t infringe on its broadcasting code.

“If it was a ‘call to action’ advertisement we wouldn’t show it,” said RTÉ press officer Fergus McCormack. “That is an ad in which viewers are directed to switch from one channel to another. The regulations don’t allow for ads calling for a switch from any channel to another. That could be UTV to Sky — it’s not necessarily an RTÉ thing. For that reason, we have no problem with the Sky ad.”

Sky yesterday said it hopes to speak to the GPA about forging a relationship in attaining access to players for interviews and promotional opportunities.

“When we set out with the Premier League, it was important to build relationships and build trust,” said Sky’s director of production Steve Smith. “I understand it’s a slightly different dynamic because you’re dealing with amateur players rather than professional players.

“But I hope we can work with the GPA to try and build that. And the flip side of that is, with the platforms that we have and the amount of people that we can reach, it’s an opportunity for those guys to profile themselves as well.”