| GAAGO | |
| Logo Alt: | GAAGO Logo |
| Launch Date: | 2014 |
| Owner: | RTÉ Gaelic Athletic Association[1] |
| Country: | Ireland |
| Area: | Worldwide |
| Sister Channels: | Watch LOI |
| Website: | GAAGO.ie |
GAAGO is an Irish IPTV service jointly owned and operated by RTÉ and the Gaelic Athletic Association. It is a subscription-based sports channel aimed at an international market and at the Irish diaspora around the world. It features over 100 live and on demand Gaelic games over the year, a library of award-winning GAA documentaries as well as an archive of classic games from yesteryear.
As part of their broadcast rights deal, the GAA announced that it was to set up a new IPTV service for an international market. The service is owned by RTÉ and the GAA. It is run by RTÉ Digital.[2]
In 2020 GAAGO launched a similar streaming services for Irish Soccer called Watch LOI as the service provider for the Football Association of Ireland.[3]
After the GAA's broadcasting contract with Sky Sports expired in October 2022 and they did not seek contracts with producers on free-to-air channels such as Virgin Media Sport, it became the only place to watch certain games of the 2023 Munster Senior Hurling Championship.[4] This was criticised by some including Tánaiste Micheál Martin.[5]
After suspicion the service was operating beyond its clearance given by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission in 2017, the commission opened an inquiry in May 2023 into the service's adherence to competition law.[6] RTÉ told the Irish Examiner that they believed that "CCPC approval was not needed".[7]
On 12 July 2023, senior GAA officials appeared before the Oireachtas Sport and Media Committee to defend the controversial GAAGO coverage of All-Ireland championships, saying broadcasting every championship match on TV was "not realistic" and not in the GAA's "interest".[8] [9]
The 2023 championship season was presented by Gráinne McElwain, alongside pundits Michael Murphy, Marc Ó Sé, Paddy Andrews, Séamus Hickey, Tommy Walsh, John O'Dwyer, and Eoin Cadogan,[10] while match commentary was provided by Dave McIntyre and Mike Finnerty.[11]
[Category:Gaelic games on television]]