THE GAA are exploring the option to buy RTE out of their 50% share of GAAGO and take full control of the pay-per-view streaming platform. Negotiations are set to begin in the near future for the association to take full ownership of GAAGO.
The subscription-based online streaming service, which launched in 2014, doubled its revenue in 2023, generating a total of €5.23m, an increase of over 100% from €2.6m the previous year (2022).
The prospect of a streaming platform fully owned by the GAA now looks like a real possibility, but RTE still hold the bulk of the media rights at the minute and will do for the next few years.
RTE will continue to show 31 championship games on RTE television and RTE Player, as well as the Joe McDonagh cup final, both Tailteann Cup semi-finals and the final for the next three seasons.
THE GAA and GAAGO attracted some criticism this year for the games that were put behind a paywall, most notably the Cork and Limerick Munster Hurling Championship clash that took place back in May.
GAAGO streamed 38 exclusive games this season, including all four of the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals and two quarter-finals. They also showed seven Tailteann Cup games in 2024 along with four Munster Hurling Championship matches.
As well as that, GAAGO also introduced a new highlights/analysis package throughout the football and hurling championships as well as a podcast style show featuring Marc O’Se, Paddy Andrews, Michael Murphy and Aaron Kernan on its YouTube channel.
In August, the GAA invited “expressions of interest” for domestic broadcast rights for All-Ireland senior football and hurling championships currently broadcast by GAAGO. That opened up the possibility of bids, which were ultimately unsuccessful, from the likes of TG4.