FT. LAUDERDALE --- 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® 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.(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 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 www.ncaa.org and 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.
