CBS Begins March Madness but Eyes Summer

By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 3/15/2010 7:51:00 AM

New York — CBS tips off its multiplatform “March Madness” coverage of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship on March 18, culminating with the title game on April 5.

CBS College Sports will have tournament games on March 18 and 19 and some 80-plus hours of complementary tournament fare, which will be seen in some 56 million households as the cable network expands its reach via a free preview with many of the nation’s top distributors.

But CBS and its cable cousin, as well as executives in the TV-sports community, will also have their eye on college hoops throughout this summer and on July 31 in particular. That’s when the NCAA can opt out of the three remaining years — worth some $2.1 billion — of its 11-year, $6 billion dollar contract for the tourney.

The NCAA, which is exploring that option and possible expansion of the 64-team tournament to a 68- or 96-squad field, sent out a request for proposal last year that has reportedly drawn interest from a number of parties: Turner Sports, which might team with the incumbent; ESPN; Fox; and Comcast, which is undergoing federal review for its proposed $30 billion joint venture with NBC Universal.

On its March 9 media day here, CBS Sports and News president Sean McManus said the network “expects to be carrying the tournament next year and beyond. We have a history at CBS of keeping events that we want,” he said, listing The Masters and PGA golf, its SEC football and basketball packages, and the U.S. Open tennis championship. “We plan to follow with the NCAA tournament as well,” he said.

McManus, in a published report, also indicated that he wouldn’t rule out the possibility of more tourney games appearing on CBS College Sports.

Also potentially up for bid: other college championship events, including the women’s basketball tournament, soccer, softball, lacrosse and the College World Series, the rights to which are currently held by ESPN and its properties. When that pact was renewed for some $200 million by ESPN in 2001, CBS didn’t have an outlet to accommodate those competitions, which could now be leveraged by CBS College Sports as a means to add cache to its extant properties and build its subscriber base.