Background and coverage breakdown
On April 22, 2010, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) reached a 14-year agreement,[1][4] worth US$10.8 billion,[5] with CBS and the Turner Broadcasting System to receive joint broadcast rights to the Division I men's college basketball tournament. This came after speculation that ESPN would try to obtain the rights to future tournament games.[6] The NCAA took advantage of an opt-out clause in its 1999 deal with CBS (which ran through 2013, even though the NCAA had the option of ending the agreement after the 2010 championship) to announce its intention to sign a new contract with CBS and Turner Sports, a division of WarnerMedia, which later was absorbed into Warner Bros. Discovery. The new contract came amid serious consideration by the NCAA of expanding the tournament to 68 teams.
The agreement, which runs through 2032 (extended from 2024 in 2016), stipulates that all games are available nationally.[7] All First Four games air on truTV. During the first and second rounds, a featured game in each time "window" is broadcast terrestrially on CBS (15 games), while all other games are shown on TBS (12 games), TNT (12 games) or truTV (nine games). Sweet 16 (regional semifinal) and Elite 8 (regional finals) games are split between CBS and TBS. In 2014 and 2015, Turner channels had exclusive rights to the Final Four (with standard coverage airing on TBS), and CBS broadcast the championship game. Since 2016, rights to the Final Four and championship game alternate between Turner and CBS; the 2016 tournament marked the first time that the national championship game was not broadcast on over-the-air television.[8]
The same number of "windows" are provided to CBS as before, although unlike with the previous schedule where all games in a window started within 10 minutes of each other, resulting in the possibility of multiple close games ending at once, the start times of games are staggered,[5][9] with action lasting later in the night and fewer simultaneous games than in the previous format. As a result of the new deal, Mega March Madness, a pay-per-view out-of-market sports package covering games in the tournament exclusive to DirecTV, including a first and second round 'quad-box' channel showing all four games on one screen, was discontinued.[10]
March Madness On Demand (now called March Madness Live) remained unchanged, with Turner Interactive taking over management of both that service and NCAA.com at the start of 2011. The contract was expected to be signed after a review by the NCAA Board of Directors.[11] In 2012, the service was changed; only games televised by CBS are available for free. All other games are available to authenticated subscribers to the channels on participating television providers. The 2018 tournament, with TBS televising the national semifinals and final, is the first in which those particular games are subject to authentication restrictions.[12][13] In 2018, March Madness Live added a new "whiparound" stream during the early rounds known as Fast Break (similar in concept to NFL RedZone and ESPN Buzzer Beater), which features live look-ins, analysis, and highlights of simultaneous games.[14]
The CBS-WarnerMedia coverage formally begins with The Selection Show—in which the teams participating in the tournament are announced, which follows CBS's coverage of the final game on Selection Sunday. During the tournament itself, truTV broadcasts pre-game coverage, Infiniti NCAA Tip-Off, while TBS and TruTV also air the post-game show Inside March Madness. CBS also produces coverage of the Reese's College All-Star Game (held on the afternoon of the Final Four at its venue), and the Division II championship game, which are both aired as part of the March Madness package.
In 2016, CBS extended the selection show to a two-hour format; however, the new special was criticized by viewers for being too padded, while the full bracket was leaked online shortly into the broadcast.[15][16] In 2017, the selection show was shortened to a 90-minute format, promising to reveal the bracket in a more timely manner.[17] In 2018, the selection show aired for the first time on TBS, with a studio audience and in a two-hour format, in which the entire field of the tournament would be revealed within the first 10 minutes. However, this involved initially revealing the teams in alphabetical order, and not the bracket proper—a decision which proved unpopular among critics and viewers.[18][19][20] The show returned to an hour-long format on CBS the following year, and the 2020 edition was also expected to air on CBS.[21]
On April 16, 2016, the contract was extended to 2032 in an $8.8 billion deal. The current broadcasting arrangements, including alternating broadcasts of the semi-finals and final, will remain in force.[7]
WarnerMedia began the process of dissolving the Turner Broadcasting System in March 2019. The corporate reorganization will not outwardly affect coverage of NCAA March Madness, which remains on the same networks.[23]
The 2020 tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. All technicians and utility staff who were expected to work the tournament were still paid,[24] while CBS aired classic Final Four games on the afternoons of March 21, 22 and 29 as replacement programming.[25]
The addition of NHL coverage affected coverage during the 2022 First Four on March 16. When the game between the Boston Bruins and the Minnesota Wild ran long, neither TBS (due to AEW Dynamite) nor truTV (due to continuing coverage of the Rutgers-Notre Dame First Four game) were available for the start of the Tampa Bay Lightning-Seattle Kraken NHL game. The start of the hockey game was moved to a fourth channel, HLN.
In 2024, Max made all non-CBS tournament games available to stream under its B/R Sports label.[26] Additionally, in addition to the Final Four and National Championship Game, truTV began simulcasting games aired on TBS from the second round on.
Team Streams
Additionally, for 2014, truTV and TNT aired special "Teamcast" coverage of the Final Four alongside TBS's conventional coverage, which featured commentators and other guests representing the schools in each game.[27][28] While the consortium planned to tap local radio announcers from each team for the teamcasts, the majority refused due to commitments in calling the games for their local radio networks. However, Turner Sports' senior vice president of production, Craig Barry, did expect such difficulties, and planned accordingly with the possibility of using talent from outlets associated with the team, general region, or their conference (such as regional networks).[29][30] The Teamcast feeds returned for the 2015 tournament, now branded as Team Stream powered by Bleacher Report.[31][32]
