Sky Sports have confirmed that crowd noise will be available as an option for the 2020 GAA Championships.
The channel have said that their customers will have the option to watch the games with 'either augmented sound or natural sound'.
A statement from Sky Sports said:
"Sky Sports has today 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 fourteen live inter-county fixtures.
"Sky Sports’ exclusive live-action gets underway this Saturday when Dublin and Laois clash in the opening round of the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship. The default for all of 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."
Sky Sports GAA
Georgie Faulkner, director of multi sports at Sky explained why the decision had been taken.
“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.”
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