RTÉ group head of sport Declan McBennett has rejected any suggestion that the national broadcaster received exclusive access to GAA matches via the GAAGO platform after Sky Sports decided not to bid for games this season.
In a statement released on Tuesday evening, Virgin Media said it was not approached by the GAA when Sky Sports' broadcasting deal ended with the GAA last autumn.
"When Sky Television decided not to renew its GAA rights, the GAA did not approach other broadcasters to ascertain whether they would be interested in broadcasting these games but arbitrarily decided to put them behind a paywall," the statement read.
"The question must be asked, did RTÉ pay anything for these rights or did they just agree to keep them behind a paywall to drive incremental revenues for both partners in GAAGO, ie RTÉ and the GAA."
In the GAA's five-year broadcast rights deal, announced last October, RTÉ retained 31 live championship matches, while streaming service GAAGO was granted rights to 38 games: 22 football championship games, nine from the hurling championship and seven Tailteann Cup games.
When asked about Virgin's statement on RTÉ's Six One programme, McBennett said: "Did we get exclusive access? No. The allocation of rights is a matter for the GAA, as it is with UEFA, as it is with the IOC, as it is with the Six Nations, any organisation.
"It's up to the GAA as to how they allocate their rights and that's the way it should be.
"With regard to what GAAGO paid, they did pay, and they paid a significant amount, however by the very nature of these things you would understand that's a commercially sensitive arrangement."
McBennett also rejected any suggestion that RTÉ and GAA were selecting high-profile Munster hurling championship games to drive subscriptions to the GAAGO platform.
Former GAA President Liam O'Neill argued today on Morning Ireland that "better choices" needed to be made regarding the screening of games on free-to-air TV, stressing that high-profile Munster hurling championship games should not be transmitted on a pay-per-view basis.
For the second weekend in a row, a major Munster Championship clash was not broadcast free-to-air, with the draw between Cork and Tipperary in Páirc Uí Chaoimh broadcast on the GAAGO platform, a joint-venture between the GAA and RTÉ.
The previous weekend, All-Ireland champions Limerick were defeated by Clare in a thriller in the Gaelic Grounds, also broadcast behind a paywall.
Subsequently, there has been much comment on the decision to broadcast Sunday's provincial football deciders in Connacht and Munster on free-to-air TV, with both matches proving to be one-sided affairs.
Speaking on the News at One on RTÉ Radio 1, McBennett outlined that RTÉ was obliged to show the six provincial deciders across hurling and football as part of their package of 31 games.
"RTÉ have the rights - and are very grateful to have the rights - to 31 matches in the Liam MacCarthy and Sam Maguire competitions," McBennett told presenter Bryan Dobson.
"If you break down those 31, two of them are All-Ireland finals, four of them are semi-finals, there are four quarter-finals, two in hurling and two in football, and there are six provincial finals.
"Each one of those form a part of what is known as the packages, that RTÉ or any broadcaster go and buy from a rights association.
"That's 16 of the 31 matches that are already accounted for and predetermined.
"Essentially then, there are 15 matches across eight weekends, four provinces and two codes, in which you have a degree of discretion.
"But when you're operating within a very condensed calendar - which we now are because the GAA have adopted that for their own good reasons and they stand over that and that's their absolute right - you are inevitably going to have a clash of major hurling matches coming up against major football matches.
"As I said, one of those packages involves the provincial finals, four in football and two in hurling. When they come up, we are contractually obliged, under the terms of our agreement with the GAA, to broadcast those.
"So if there's a significant hurling match that clashes with those, inevitably there has to be a second platform."
McBennett, who also sits on the GAAGO board, said he was part of the process on deciding which match to show but had no say over scheduling.
"I'm part of the process that decides in terms of the picks. But I'm not part of the process of determining when they're scheduled. That's entirely a matter for the GAA.
"We have 15 matches that we have discretion over. We have four provinces and two codes to cover.
"We cannot cover the whole of the Munster hurling championship to the neglect of counties like Sligo or Clare or indeed Louth this coming weekend."
In a widely circulated segment on The Sunday Game, former All-Ireland winning goalkeeper Donal Óg Cusack lamented the decision not to transmit the games free-to-air, alleging that the Munster SHC was being "exploited" to get the GAAGO platform off the ground.
McBennett said that the claim was "not unreasonable" but rejected it, noting that the Limerick-Clare game had initially been scheduled for RTÉ on Sunday afternoon but was switched to Saturday on account of the Great Limerick Run.
"It's absolutely not the case. I've heard this stated over the past 24-48 hours. The reality of it is that we covered Cork-Waterford and Waterford-Limerick on RTÉ.
"The Limerick-Clare game was initially scheduled for the Sunday and that was to be an RTÉ game. Due to circumstances in Limerick, which were outside the control of certainly RTÉ and I imagine the GAA, that game was moved to Saturday and hence went to GAAGO.
"RTÉ picked up Cork-Waterford. Now Cork-Waterford did not meet the iconic status of the Limerick-Clare game but that's the nature of sport.
"We will be doing Clare v Cork and Tipperary v Limerick in two weeks' time when GAAGO will be doing the key football games that have emerged, which will be Kerry v Mayo and Galway v Tyrone.
"So we are bringing the Munster hurling championship. However, we cannot exclusively, on the basis of 15 games across eight weekends, four provinces and two codes, simply concentrate on the Munster hurling championship. That is not feasible.
"There are more games than ever available to the public. There are also more rugby and soccer available free-to-air."
While McBennett said that he could not give precise details on how many subscriptions GAAGO had attracted, he said it was performing to expectations.
"For understandable commercial reasons, I cannot go into that, much as I would love to. But you have to understand that it's meeting its targets and meeting its expectations and we will have a review at the end of the year.
"The cost was set by the GAAGO board. If you bought the early bird [season pass] price last December, it was €59."
"The money that is generated will go back into the GAA and into RTÉ. The RTÉ allocation goes back into the investment in sports rights.
"Sports rights are extremely expensive. In order for RTÉ to be able to compete in that market, which is an international global market, we must be able to generate revenue as well. That allows us put more games to air."
Later on Tuesday, Taoiseach Leo Vardkar told the Dáil that there is a possible "win-win" solution to concerns over the GAAGO app.
Mr Varadkar expressed his support for Tánaiste Micheál Martin's call for the matter "to be reviewed".
But he noted that there are up to 15 matches every weekend, and all of them cannot be televised.
Mr Varadkar said that "the most popular, most important matches" should be shown on RTÉ and TG4.
"There is a potential win-win here, I think, if we can identify the big matches to be televised", he said.
Then other matches - "which wouldn't otherwise be available" - can be watched on the app.
"So, let's allow RTÉ, TG4 and the GAA to talk about that," he advised.
He was responding to Jennifer Whitmore, Social Democrat TD, who said that the GAA and RTÉ have "come together" to "effectively privatise" the watching of our national sport.
Those who pay their TV licence should be allowed to watch the national sport, she said.
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