For First Time, CBS's Emmy Award-Winning Live Video of the NCAA Division I
Men's Basketball Championship Will Encompass All 63 Games
FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla., Feb. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- CBSSports.com, in
partnership with CBS Sports, CSTV and the NCAA, today announced that in
2008, for the first time, its NCAA March Madness on Demand (MMOD) service
would give users the ability to view all 63 games* of the NCAA Division I
Men's Basketball Championship, from the first round of the tournament
through the Men's Final Four(R) and Championship in San Antonio.
NCAA March Madness on Demand is the Emmy award-winning** video player
that provides live streaming video of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball
Championship. Since its inception in 2003, MMOD has traditionally provided
live video of the first 56 games of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball
Championship as they are broadcast by CBS Sports, with local broadcasts
being subject to blackouts.
"In its sixth year, March Madness on Demand continues to maximize the
network's NCAA bundled rights across all platforms of the CBS Corporation
with the wide distribution of CBS Sports' game coverage, promoted by CSTV
and available via CBSSports.com and NCAA.com," said Sean McManus,
President, CBS News and Sports. "The expansion, to include all 63 games,
will enhance the total March Madness experience of college basketball fans
everywhere."
"Getting more people involved -- in more ways -- in March Madness is a
central goal for the NCAA and March Madness on Demand continues to
deliver," said Greg Shaheen, Senior Vice President for Basketball and
Business Strategies at the NCAA. "Whether through broadcast coverage of the
tournament on CBS Sports and CSTV, streaming live video from the Emmy
award-winning March Madness on Demand on NCAA.com, mobile coverage and
highlights on CBS Sports Mobile or the tournament brackets application on
Facebook, more fans now have more ways to view, follow, debate and enjoy
March Madness than ever before."
"It's a tribute to the leadership at CBS Sports and the NCAA that
CBSSports.com can be the first media company to provide a live Internet
broadcast of a major sporting event in its entirety to fans around the
world with no restrictions and free of charge," said Jason Kint, Senior
Vice President and General Manager, CBSSports.com. "We expect a record
number of hoops fans to be engaged in the tournament this year while at
work, at home or on the go via CBS Sports Mobile."
As has been the case since it was first offered for free in 2006, NCAA
March Madness on Demand will once again be the centerpiece of the
CBSSports.com coverage of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball
Championship. Additional aspects of the multi-platform coverage of the
championship across CBSSports.com and CBS Sports Mobile include
up-to-the-second scores and statistics for every game of the tournament
through live scoreboards and GameCenters, expert analysis, commentary, game
matchups, predictions and more from the CBSSports.com team of writers,
highlighted by NCAA basketball expert Gary Parrish and bracket games on
CBSSports.com and the recently launched "CBSSports.com Tournament Brackets"
application on Facebook. (http://www.facebook.com/brackets)
Launching in early March, NCAA March Madness on Demand will be
available at NCAA.com (mmod.ncaa.com) as well as via MMOD links on
CBSSports.com and CSTV.com.
To have the best opportunity to view live streaming video from the NCAA
Division I Men's Basketball Championship, fans are urged to register for
MMOD to obtain VIP status. Fans who don't have VIP status will be placed in
the General Admission area where they will experience longer wait times to
get into the MMOD player if it is full on game day(s).
While supplies last, fans can obtain VIP access to MMOD at NCAA.com
(mmod.ncaa.com).
The 2008 MMOD video player will showcase a wider screen (640 X 360
pixels) along with additional features such as live scoreboards and the
infamous "Boss Button." CBSSports.com will again produce a live halftime
show for MMOD featuring CBSSports.com original video host Jason Horowitz.
"At The Half" will start when the first game goes to halftime and continue
all the way until the last game in that window returns to second-half
action.
In 2006, MMOD was presented free of charge for the first time since its
debut in 2003, producing tremendous traffic results resulting in one of the
largest live Internet events ever and one many experts called a watershed
moment in media history. In total, 265,973 fans registered for VIP status
for MMOD in 2006, a number that eventually led to 1,277,266 unique users
who watched a total of 2,130,369 hours (127,822,140 minutes) of live
streaming video.
Free access to 2008 NCAA March Madness on Demand is made possible by
presenting sponsors and NCAA Corporate Champions Coca-Cola, Pontiac and
AT&T.
Final 2007 NCAA March Madness on Demand Traffic Numbers:
1. Minutes of Live Streaming video viewed
-- 2,598,889 total hours of Live Video (155,933,340 minutes)
2. Unique users
-- 1,381,875 total unique users
3. VIP Registrations
-- 468,720 VIP Registrations
* NCAA March Madness on Demand will not show the Opening Round Game on
March 18.
** CBSSports.com and CBS Sports production of NCAA March Madness on
Demand was awarded an Emmy at the 59th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy
Awards on January 7th of this year for Outstanding Achievement in Advanced
Media Technology for Synchronous Enhancement of Original Television Content
For Interactive Use.
Availability of NCAA March Madness on Demand is subject to capacity
restrictions. Certain terms and restrictions apply. Full terms at
http://www.ncaasports.com/info/tos/mmod/
About CBSSports.com
CBSSports.com is at the leading edge of media companies providing
Internet sports content, Fantasy sports and e-commerce. CBSSports.com is a
member of the CBS family and a part of CBS Interactive. Formerly known as
CBS SportsLine.com, in August of 2007 the company changed its name to
CBSSports.com. The change marked the evolution of the company into a
multi-platform brand offering premier broadcast, online and mobile sports
content. The change to CBSSports.com gives advertisers the ability to
associate with the CBS Sports brand and reach sports fans no matter where
they are, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
For more information about CBSSports.com and for the latest sports
news, scores and expert analysis, please visit cbssports.com.
More information about CBS and its businesses is available at
http://www.cbscorporation.com .
About the NCAA
The NCAA is a membership-led nonprofit association of colleges and
universities committed to supporting academic and athletics opportunities
for more than 380,000 student-athletes at more than 1,000 member colleges
and universities. Each year, more than 54,000 student-athletes compete in
NCAA championships in Divisions I, II and III sports. Visit http://www.ncaa.org
and http://www.ncaa.com for more details about the Association, its goals and
members and corporate partnerships that help support programs for
student-athletes.
The NCAA is proud to have the following elite companies as official
Corporate Champions-AT&T, Coca-Cola and Pontiac-and the following elite
companies as official Corporate Partners-DiGiorno, Enterprise, The
Hartford, Lowe's, Sheraton and State Farm.
NCAA, Final Four, and March Madness are trademarks owned or licensed by
the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
SOURCE CBSSports.com
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Related links:
http://www.cbs.sportsline.com
http://CBSSports.com http://www.cbscorporation.com
http://www.ncaa.org http://www.NCAA.com
http://www.CSTV.com http://www.facebook.com/brackets
http://mmod.ncaa.com
http://www.ncaasports.com/info/tos/mmod/
CONTACT:
LeslieAnne Wade of CBS Sports & CSTV,
+1-212-975-5171, lwade@cbs.com; or Dana McClintock of CBS
Corporation, +1-212-975-1077, dlmcclintock@cbs.com; or Alex
Riethmiller of CBSSports.com, +1-954-489-4235,
ariethmiller@cbs.com; or Gail Dent of NCAA, +1-317-917-6119,
gdent@ncaa.org
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