Sky Sports to add crowd noises to Championship coverage

Sky has worked over the last few weeks on adapting a collected bed of sound from previous GAA matches

Sky Sports have confirmed that GAA fans will be able to listen to artificial crowd noise in their coverage of the 2020 Championships.

Georgie Faulkner, Director of multi sports at Sky, believes the option "will be the preferred choice of families all over the country that want to avoid the prospect of occasional on-field profanities."

Sky has worked over the last few weeks on adapting a collected bed of sound from previous GAA matches which includes general atmosphere sounds along with common response sounds such as goals, points, misses, fouls, anticipation, cheers, full-time crowd whistles and celebratory cheers.

All of Sky’s 14 live GAA fixtures which air on Sky Sports Mix, will have the broadcaster's augmented sound function. Such technology has been used in sports across the world to counter the lack of atmosphere of playing games in empty stadiums. 

Sky Sports’ exclusive live action gets underway on Saturday when Dublin and Laois clash in the opening round of the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship. The default for all of Sky’s GAA coverage will be augmented sound but fans will have the choice to opt for natural sound if they prefer. 

Using the audio description function on the Sky TV box, viewers can choose to remain on ‘natural sound’, which is simply the sounds picked up by the microphones placed in the specific ground. 

Faulkner said: “The team in Sky have worked very hard to bring Sky Crowds to our viewers. We know our sports fans have enjoyed ‘Sky Crowds’ across other sports. However, it was also important that we offer choice to our customers, so those who want to opt for natural sound and not have the added crowd noise, can do so via the audio description button.”