Setanta adopt wait-and-see approach to Sky

Setanta Sports are waiting to see if Sky’s entry into the pay-per-view GAA market will have a positive impact on their business this spring.

The Irish broadcaster yesterday announced details of its 2015 Allianz League coverage, with 12 football and five hurling games to be screened exclusively live over the coming months.

“Sky’s coverage of the championship last year probably would have forced a lot of people to consider paying for GAA on TV for the first time, so maybe that will have a positive knock-on effect for us in the Allianz Leagues,” Brian Quinn, Marketing Operations Director at Setanta Sports said.

“From our perspective it will be interesting to see if there is any positive impact, but for the most part it’s business as usual for us. We’ve been covering these games for eight years so we’re quite keen to just put another good shift in. GAA fans haven’t had any county games on screen for four or five months so there is always a great desire there at this time of year.”

Recently retired stars Declan O’Sullivan, Rory Kavanagh and Aaron Kernan along with former Mayo boss James Horan will help head up the station’s football coverage.

Former Clare and Dublin hurling manager Anthony Daly and retired Kilkenny star Brian Hogan will form part of the hurling analysis team.

SETANTA STABLE: Football: Declan O’Sullivan, Rory Kavanagh, James Horan, Sean Connell, Aaron Kernan, Billy Joe Padden, Liam McHale, Cian Ward.

Hurling: Anthony Daly, Brian Hogan, Jamesie O’Connor.