Are you ready for a field of 68 do battle on CBS, TBS, TNT, and TruTV? I sure as heck am! No field of 96 and no ESPN! Thank goodness! It's 68 and CBS/Turner. This I can happily live with. Here are some of the details from USA Today.
The new deal with CBS and Turner will spread NCAA tournament games across four networks -- CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV -- starting next March. CBS and Turner will share coverage of regional semifinals, and CBS will carry regional finals and Final Four games through 2015. All games will be available on live TV instead of CBS switching back and forth.It is still unknown what the final bracket will look like, but this is the new TV deal that I can be happy about.
CBS and TNT say all NCAA tournament games will continue to be streamed live online.
Starting in 2016, CBS and Turner will share regional final coverage and alternate carrying the tournament semifinals and championship game (on CBS and Turner's TBS).
The NCAA is opting out of the final three years of a current 11-year, $6 billion contract with CBS.
The new deal will pay $10.86 billion -- nearly $776 million a year -- for the men's basketball tournament, and additional payments for digital and other new media rights will push the total value past $11 billion. It is a 42% increase over CBS' average rights fee in its old NCAA TV deal.
That's atop a current agreement with ESPN for the women's basketball tournament, College World Series and 20 other NCAA championships worth $55 million over the next three years. Negotiations are underway for the rights to 60-plus other NCAA championships.
As far as what announcers are going to be used for the tournament, that is something that will likely be up in the air and unknown until March. Although I must say that I am curious as to who Turner will be using, if they will use their own people, use the people that CBS has been using, or some hybrid of the two. Kevin Harlan and Ian Eagle, both of whom have been recent fixtures on the NCAA Tournament with CBS, have been working these NBA Playoffs. My only fear is we will have to listen to Dick Stockton perform a task that closely resembles announcing the NCAA Tournament.
Regardless, every tournament game will now be on national TV, every game will still be legally streamed online, and we do not have a field of 96. Is it just me or has the NCAA actually done something right?
I love how ESPN hasn't mentioned this at all today. Bitter much that CBS and TNT out-bid them?
ReplyDeleteKeith, on one of the afternoon SportsCenters, Sage Steele read some treacle & nonsense press release from the higher ups about how ESPN made an "aggressive bid," blah, blah, blah.
ReplyDeleteMy only quibble is truTV over CBS College Sports. CBS College Sports has no leverage and is destined to fail if a channel that pays Leif Garrett & Danny Bonaduce can get a spot in the new deal and they can't.
It's great, except for the fact that it looks like instead of avoiding 1 play in game, I'll have to avoid 4 play in games between the lower ranked conferences.
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