GAELIC GAMES:RTÉ were confirmed as the big winners in the final allocation of domestic broadcasting rights, announced in Croke Park yesterday. The station has secured all of the remaining television packages on offer, meaning it will show 40 of the 50 championship matches that were put out to tender.

The new deals brought to an end the most complex system of rights distribution that the GAA has ever operated and is believed to be bringing in around €25 million over the three-year period of the contract, running from next summer up until May 2011.

The precise composition of the packages won't be known until the championships evolve, as they are based on a hierarchy of choices, which will include All-Ireland qualifiers yet to be drawn.

Some rights, overseas and certain local radio, have yet to be finalised but the preponderance of the media arrangements has been settled.

The outcome came as a relief to RTÉ, who had seen their hitherto exclusive rights eroded before Christmas when it was announced that TV3 would have access to package three, including some provincial finals, semi-finals and All-Ireland qualifiers.

If that had been expected, the news that RTÉ would continue to have exclusive broadcast rights to radio commentary was less so as was the revelation by Dermot Power, the GAA's commercial and marketing manager, that Today FM would have "score update" rights, leaving Newstalk 106, which has an extensive track record of covering Gaelic games, surprisingly out in the cold.

It was also announced that rights holders would have to allow BBC Northern Ireland relay their Ulster championship coverage to ensure that all viewers in the province, where there are difficulties with RTÉ and TV3 signals, can access the broadcasts.

It is also likely the new international rights will drop in value, an inevitable reflection of the inroads made on the value of the contracts for Britain and Europe where decoder cards have made it too easy to access GAA match coverage on digital platforms, such as Sky and BBC.

GAA president Nickey Brennan was pleased with the overall deal, pointing out that it would give in-depth coverage of the games during the high season. "You have TV coverage of Gaelic games during the main part of the year across various service providers for seven nights a week," he said. "For games in Ulster they will be relayed by BBC."

Brennan also said that the GAA had spoken to its broadcast partners about the nature of their coverage. "We have talked to both RTÉ and TV3 about the importance of presentation of our games and the importance of balanced and fair analysis and I know that they have taken that on board."

Answering charges that the association had become too focused on extracting top prices for its broadcast and commercial deals, the president was anxious to set the record straight.

"There was an awful lot spoken out there that the GAA would sell their soul. I can tell you quite clearly while I'm not going to answer any questions about how much money the GAA is getting from any of the service providers I would say that it is significantly improved on the last contract.

"But I would like to make one thing absolutely clear. The GAA did not take this for money. If this was a money deal we might not have had the outcome we had today. We went for a combination of finance, quality of coverage, experience and obviously the new dimension brought to it by TV3.

"We feel we have met the requirements of the broader spectrum of GAA people across the country and that the end result will be very positive.

RTÉ Head of Sport Glen Killane said he was "delighted" with the news, which comes after deals with the FAI and IRFU governing soccer and rugby internationals.

"Competition is good," he said about the TV3 deal. "We welcome competition. It will give us another opportunity to prove how good we are and I'm not saying that in a cocky sense but in a very confident sense in that we feel we provide the best service available to the Irish audience.

"It does complicate it somewhat in that match selections have to be worked out but I think it's in everybody's interest to make this work. It's in nobody's interest to be throwing up roadblocks and we'll be as professional and forthright as we can.

"While we were disappointed to lose that package of 10 it's not the end of the world. We have 40 out of 50 matches live each championship summer so that's an amazing achievement.

"We've also secured exclusive live national radio rights, which is a big statement in this current day and age when we're facing huge competition from all sides, as we do on television as well."

The new sponsorship deals will be finalised by early March, according to Brennan, and the GAA's brand review will be launched in the coming weeks and placed before next April's congress in Sligo for approval.

The president also accepted that the new agreement with the AFL may not be sufficient to secure the approval of the association. Asked if it was to be rejected by Central Council would the International Rules series be over, Brennan replied that it would.

"We would tick that box and move on to the next challenge," he told the media conference.

Broadcasting rights: Who got what?

RTÉ: Live broadcast rights to 40 out of 50 championship matches, including the top package [match choices 1-10] of All-Ireland finals, semi-finals and quarter-finals. Highlights package.

Exclusive live national radio broadcast rights to all matches.

TV3: Live broadcast rights to 10 of 50 championship matches, package three [match choices 21-30] including two provincial finals and an option on All-Ireland qualifiers.

Setanta: Live broadcast rights to Saturday night National League matches. Highlights package.

TG4: Live broadcast rights to Sunday National League matches, club and under-21 championships and college fixtures, second and third level. Highlights package.

BBC: Permission to relay Ulster championship matches broadcast live by RTÉ and TV3 because of coverage problems in the north. Highlights package.