CBS Sports Adds Partner, Keeps Tournament

CBS Sports and partner Turner Broadcasting System made the winning bid for an expanded NCAA Tournament beginning in 2011, the NCAA and those broadcast partners announced Thursday.

The 14-year deal worth more than $10.8 million includes TV, Internet and wireless rights through 2024.

As part of the agreement, all games in the tournament -- which would grow from 65 to 68 teams based on a recommendation by the Division I Men's Basketball Committee this week -- will be available live in their entirety on one of four national TV networks. So, instead of CBS providing regional coverage of only a single game to a specific area of the country during a certain broadcast window, viewers with access to the broadcast network and its partner cable channels may choose for themselves which game to watch when games overlap throughout the tournament.

Sixty-eight teams would also mean a play-in (officially "opening round") game in each of the tournament's four regions in the week before the first full weekend of play. And, with several outlets (CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV) those games could be shown on separate channels at the same time or as two doubleheaders on a two channels. Although ESPN has broadcast the lone play-in game for the 65-team tournament in the past, the announcement Thursday indicated that the CBS-Turner deal would include all games in the tournament beginning in 2011.

The deal also moves later-round action in the tournament to cable for the first time, with CBS and Turner splitting coverage of regional semifinal games beginning in 2011.

Through 2015, CBS has exclusive coverage of the regional finals and Final Four, but beginning in 2016 it would split that coverage with Turner -- with the Final Four alternating every year between CBS Sports and TBS.

According to interim NCAA president Jim Isch, the deal provides more than $740 million annually to the organization. Revenue from the tournament provides nearly 96 percent of the NCAA's income.

Many thought the NCAA's quest for more money would lead to a greatly expanded tournament (as many as 96 games) and the possibility that ESPN, with its ability to generate money to pay for rights fees through its cable subscription fees, would emerge as the tournament's home.

Instead, CBS found a capable cable partner with Turner (which can also add cable revenue on a per-subscriber basis from basic cable bills) and held onto an event that has been one of its major sports properties for nearly three decades.

"This agreement with our colleagues at Turner and the NCAA secures CBS's standing as a year-round leader in sports television well into the next decade," said Sean McManus, president of CBS News and Sports. "In this agreement, we have created a new strategic partnership that not only makes this prestigious property an ongoing core asset in our stable of major television events, but a profitable one as well."

For TBS, which just a few weeks ago landed Conan O'Brien as host of a late-night program beginning in the fall, the deal provides more visible programming and more visibility in general. While ratings and viewership for regional semifinal games (and eventually regional finals and the Final Four) that air on TBS should logically be lower than those on CBS during the lifetime of the agreement, the events should draw larger-than-usual numbers for TBS and, again, allow access to cable with viewers who pay for specific channels as part of their monthly cable bills -- a revenue stream not available to broadcast networks such as CBS.

"This is landmark deal for Turner Broadcasting and we're extremely pleased to begin a long-term relationship with the NCAA and our partners at CBS and to have a commitment tht extends well into the next decade," said David Levy, president of sales, distribution and sports for Turner Broadcasting System Inc.