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College Basketball on CBS Sports

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College Basketball on CBS is a presentation of men's NCAA Division I basketball games on CBS Sports. In 1982, CBS Sports obtained broadcast television rights to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship from NBC (who had aired it since 1969).

History

1980s

Besides being their first year covering the NCAA tournament, 1982 also marked the first year that that the Selection Show was broadcast. 1987 marked the first year that CBS used the song "One Shining Moment" for its tournament epilogue.

For their inagugural season, CBS had to scramble to arrange a regular season schedule as NBC still held exclusive rights to certain conferences. CBS also signed Billy Packer away from NBC to be its top analyst (teaming with play-by-play man Gary Bender and later Brent Musburger and Jim Nantz). Packer also played a key role in helping CBS put together its schedule.

See also: NCAA_basketball_tournament_selection_process § Selection_Sunday

1990s

In 1991, CBS assumed responsibility for covering all games of the NCAA tournament, with the exception of the single Tuesday night "play-in" game. (The play-in game - between teams ranked 64 & 65 - is televised by ESPN, except for the first one, which was aired on TNN, and used CBS graphics and announcers.)

2000s

In 2003, CBS struck a deal with Yahoo! to offer live streaming of the first three rounds of games under its Yahoo! Platinum service, for $16.95 a month. [1] In 2004, CBS sold access to March Madness On Demand for $9.95, which provided games not otherwise shown on broadcast television. The service was free for AOL subscribers. [2] In 2005, the service charged $19.95 but offered enhanced coverage of pregame and postgame interviews and press conferences. [3] In 2006, March Madness On Demand was made free, but dropped the coverage of interviews and press conferences. The service was profitable and set a record for simultaneous online streams at 268,000. [4] In 2007 as well as 2008, March Madness On Demand was again free to online users.

In addition, CBS College Sports Network (formerly CSTV) broadcasts two "late early" games that would not otherwise be broadcast nationally. These are the second games in the daytime session in the Pacific Time Zone, to avoid starting games before 10 AM. These games are also available via March Madness on Demand and on CBS affiliates in the market areas of the team playing. In other markets, newscasts, local programming or preempted CBS morning programming (such as The Price is Right) are aired. CBS-CS also broadcasts the official pregame and postgame shows and press conferences from the teams involved. [5]

HDTV coverage

The Final Four has been broadcast in HDTV since 1999. From 2000 to 2004, only one first/second round site and one regional site were designated as HDTV sites. In 2005, all regional games were broadcast in HDTV, and four first and second round sites were designated for HDTV coverage. Local stations broadcasting in both digital and analog had the option of airing separate games on their HD and SD channels, to take advantage of the available high definition coverage. Beginning in 2007, all games in the tournament (including all first and second round games) were available in high definition, and local stations were required to air the same game on both their analog and digital channels. However, due to satellite limitations, first round "constant" feeds were only available in standard definition.[6]Some digital television stations choose not to participate in HDTV broadcasts of the first and second rounds and the regional semifinals, and split their signal into digital subchannels to show all games going on simultaneously. Most notably, WRAL-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina has split its digital signal four ways since 2000 to show all of the games. [7] In 2007, CBS broadcast all games from each regional site in HDTV, however, due to limitations in the CBS broadcast center, only the "Flex" feeds were in HD, constant feeds were in SD. Upgrades at the CBS broadcast center allowed all feeds, flex and constant, to be in HD for the 2008 tournament.

The entire country sees the regional finals, the national semifinals, and the national championship. At the end of CBS' coverage, a highlight reel featuring memorable moments from the tournament is shown, set to the song "One Shining Moment."

Tournament feed overview

Currently, CBS broadcasts the remaining 63 games of the NCAA tournament proper. Most areas see only eight of 32 first round games, seven second round games, and four regional semifinal games (out of the possible 56 games during these rounds). Coverage preempts regular programming on the network, except during a 2 hour window from about 5 ET until 7 ET when the local affiliates can show programming. The CBS format results in far fewer hours of first-round coverage than under the old ESPN format, but allows the games to reach a much larger audience than ESPN is able to reach.

CBS provides three sets of feeds from each venue, known as "constant" "swing" and "flex." Constant feeds remain primarily on a given game, and are used primarily by stations with local interest in a game. Despite its name, a constant feed may occasionally veer away to other games for brief updates, but coverage generally remains with the initial game. Swing feeds tend to stay on games of natural interest, such as teams from local conferences, but will go to other games that are close. On a flex feed, coverage bounces around from one venue to another, depending on action at the various games in progress. If one game is a blowout, coverage can switch to a more competitive game. Flex games have no natural interest for the stations carrying them, allowing the flex game to be the best game in progress. Station feeds are planned in advance and stations have the option of requesting either constant or flex feed for various games.

Current regular season scheduling line-up (for 2008-09)

See also: Men's college basketball on television

In August 2008, the SEC announced an unprecedented 15-year television contract with CBS worth an estimated $55 million a year. This will continue the relationship the SEC already has with CBS, which puts the SEC in the unique position as the only conference to have its own exclusive national television network of the big three networks (CBS, NBC, and ABC) to display the SEC's events.[8]

Commentators (past and present)

Play-by-play

Color commentary

Current lineup (for 2008-09)

  1. Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg
  2. Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery
  3. Dick Enberg or Carter Blackburn and Jay Bilas
  4. Gus Johnson and Len Elmore
  5. Kevin Harlan and Dan Bonner
  6. Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel
  7. Craig Bolerjack and Bob Wenzel
  8. Tim Brando and Mike Gminski

In relation to The NBA on CBS

Main article: NBA on CBS

CBS often used the same analysts for both the NBA Playoffs and NCAA Tournament. Tom Heinsohn, Billy Cunningham[9], and Hubie Brown all worked NCAA Regionals during years when also serving as the lead NBA analyst for CBS. Billy Packer worked NBA playoff games in 1987 and 1988 while he was the CBS' lead college basketball analyst.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Yahoo unveils Platinum paid service". CNET News.com. Retrieved 2007-03-17.
  2. ^ http://www.paidcontent.org/pc/arch/2004_03_16.shtml#005874
  3. ^ NCAA® MARCH MADNESS® ON DEMAND SPEARHEADS CSTV.COM'S ONLINE COVERAGE :: CSTV.com Features Exclusive Blogs From Coaches Norm Roberts, Steve Fisher And Pat Kennedy, Streaming Video of Classic NCAA Tournament Moments, Exclusive Columns From Matt Doherty, Brian Curtis, Debbie Antonelli, Jerry Palm
  4. ^ Streamingmedia.com: CBS’s NCAA March Madness On Demand Sets Internet Record For Simultaneous Live Viewing Of An Entertainment Or Sports Event
  5. ^ CSTV.com: #1 in College Sports - Men's Basketball
  6. ^ Why we didn’t get Stanford in HDTV (but the rest of the country did) - Morning Buzz
  7. ^ WRAL Digital Airs Entire NCAA Basketball Tournament
  8. ^ About the Southeastern Conference
  9. ^ Billy Cunningham has made NBA telecasts smoother
Preceded by NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship television broadcaster
1982 - 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
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