The exclusivity of the rights are real and also include the final, but it appears GAA on Sky cannot compete with Judge Judy.
The viewership figures for the GAA Championships on Sky have been poor, and exactly how low they have been was revealed by Paul Rouse in today's Irish Examiner.
The average vewership for the All Ireland Hurling final on Sky Sports in Ireland was just 29,700.
The scarcity of viewers is put into stark illumination by the wonderful comparisons drawn by Rouse:
On 17 June 2015 (to pick one random night), the average viewership for ‘Oireachtas Report’, when it was shown after midnight on RTÉ One, was 44,400.
And, to choose another random programme, last Thursday’s 4.30pm showing of ‘Judge Judy’ on TV3 drew an average viewership of 39,600.
Basically, high-quality live hurling championship matches shown on Sky Sports in Ireland and in England draw fewer viewers than repeats of Judge Judy and the post-midnight ‘highlights’ of Dáil Debates in the middle of summer.
Judge Judy is, to be fair, mightily entertaining. But Oireachtas report?
Watching Mick Wallace debate in a Torino jersey surely isn't that entertaining, is it?
Read the excellent coulmn in full here.
