Sky Sports' GAA coverage to include augmented crowd noise
Sky Sports' live GAA coverage gets under way on Saturday, with the Leinster SHC meeting of Dublin and Laois
Friday 23 October 2020 07:13, UK
With 48 hours to go until Sky Sports' coverage of the 2020 GAA Championships gets under way, it has been confirmed it will bring some of the matchday atmosphere into people's homes with 'Sky Crowds', its augmented sound function.
Augmented sound will be available for all of Sky's 14 live inter-county fixtures.
Sky Sports' exclusive live action starts this Saturday when Dublin and Laois clash in the opening round of the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship.
The default for all Sky's GAA coverage will be augmented sound but GAA fans will have the choice to opt for natural sound if they prefer.
Using the audio description function on the Sky TV box, viewers can choose to remain on 'natural sound', which is simply the sounds picked up by the microphones placed in the specific ground. A handy online guide on how to enable audio description is available here.
Georgie Faulkner, director of multi-sports at Sky, explained the broadcasters' decision to apply Sky Crowds augmented sound to its main coverage:
"The team in Sky have worked very hard to bring Sky Crowds to our viewers. We know our sports fans have enjoyed 'Sky Crowds' across other sports and given GAA is such a family game, we think it will be the preferred choice of families all over the country that want to avoid the prospect of occasional on-field profanities.
"However, it was also important that we offer choice to our customers, so those who want to opt for natural sound and not have the added crowd noise, can do so via the audio description button."
Sky has worked tirelessly over the last few weeks on adapting a collected bed of sound from previous GAA matches which includes general atmosphere sounds along with common response sounds such as goals, points, misses, fouls, anticipation, cheers, full-time crowd whistles and celebratory cheers.
And the broadcaster is doing all it can to be there for fans during the Covid-19 crisis by making all of its 2020 GAA Championship fixtures available to all Sky customers with every game live on Sky Sports Mix, meaning even those who do not have a Sky Sports subscription, as well as those on other TV platforms, will get to watch the action and be inside the game.
Sky Sports Mix is available in approximately 900,000 homes in Ireland.
Our live GAA coverage gets under way on Saturday, with the Leinster SHC meeting of Dublin and Laois, at 5pm on Sky Sports Mix.
