Newstalk 106-108 fm has secured a three year contract for the broadcast rights of the GAA Football and Hurling Championships. This decision by the GAA is the first time that Championship matches will be broadcast on a radio station other than RTE and underlines the sustained growth of Newstalk. Over the next three years Newstalk listeners will have the chance to hear games on Saturdays and Sundays across the Championship season, delivered by the top commentators and analysts in the game.
“We are delighted to become a media partner of the GAA and we are looking forward to broadcasting live coverage of the GAA Championship for the next three years. This is the first time that RTE Radio’s monopoly of broadcasting live GAA Championship matches has been broken and is testimony to our sports department and the consistently high standards they’ve matched on a daily basis since 2002. The GAA is the biggest sports organisation in Ireland and we can’t wait to bring our style to Ireland’s national games,” said Frank Cronin, Chief Executive of Newstalk.
In the last six months Newstalk has also secured broadcast deals with the Premier League and the ERC for Heineken Cup rights. Newstalk Sport Saturday and Newstalk Sport Sunday are the only radio shows in Ireland where, from 2011, it will be possible to hear live Barclays Premier League games, live Heineken Cup games and now live GAA Championship matches.
Newstalk was the first radio station to develop a nightly sports show and since launch in 2002 has set the template for sports radio in Ireland.
The latest JNLR Figures put Off The Ball ahead of all other national radio stations in their time slot. The figures also show a 20% growth in Ger Gilroy’s Newstalk Sport Saturday show. Almost 160,000 people are now listening every weekend to Newstalk Sport with particularly strong figures reported in the key 15-44 year old demographic.
