CBS & ESPN Close to Agreement for NCAA (1 Viewer)

[Ralph Summa]

I just heard a radio interview between WFAN radio and the CBS Sports Programming Director in New York. CBS and ESPN are finalizing an agreement that would immediately send CBS feeds to ESPN if war breaks out during the NCAA tournament. When asked why they aren't using other Viacom stations, the CBS director said ESPN has the ability to send different games to four different markets. There are no Viacom stations that can do this. He also stated that their resoning also took into account that sports fans know where ESPN is in their channel line-up, but not everyone knows where TNN is.

The only thing that could be different than normal is that in the event of a lopsided game, coverage would probably not be able to shift to a more competitive game. Announcers and studio personnel would not change.

Ralph

 

[Lew Crippen]

Very surprising that CBS would send to an ABC outlet, even if they could do a better job.

Still, I won’t complain.

 

[Jason Seaver]

Well, I think the issue is that they're obligated to refund advertisers based upon the difference between their guaranteed ratings and the ratings actually received, which will be lower if the games are shifted to cable. The difference between the ratings ESPN would receive for this programming, and the ratings TNN might receive, are likely significant.

 

[Lew Crippen]

Good point Jason. I had not even considered that part of commercial reality.

 

[Ralph Summa]

I made an error in my original post. WFAN was talking to the President of CBS Sports Sean McManus.

Note: Someone called in shortly after the interview ended and wondered if the continuous "Bottom Line" ticker would be used. The caller and one of the show's hosts commented how they hated it, and how it was a distraction. I agree...


What do you think CBS will do with the HD feeds? Will they cover the war or the games?

Ralph

 

[MickeS]

Great, ESPN is a much better deal than any of the Viacom non-sports stations.

I would assume the value of HD-sports would be higher than HD-war right now.

/Mike

 

[ThomasC]

Interesting seeing and hearing CBS coverage with an ESPN ticker at the bottom...

 

[Joseph S]

Very surprising that CBS would send to an ABC outlet, even if they could do a better job.

Still, I won?t complain.

I will. They promoted the tournament for months including the multicast. 30 minutes in they pulled the plug all across the country. Great way to treat the viewers with bait and switch tactics. Who does CBS or ESPN think they're serving? If ESPN pulled the plug, that's not a great start for getting paid subscribers for ESPN HD after screwing the HD market out of the NCAAs.

 

[Mark Pfeiffer]

They promoted the tournament for months including the multicast. 30 minutes in they pulled the plug all across the country.

I was wondering about this. I don't have HD, but on digital cable, channels 77-80 were set aside for four games (one as a mirror of the local affiliate's game). I didn't realize until this morning that this was going to be there. Got home a little later than planned. 77 was a mirror of CBS' news coverage while 78-80 were dark. Later 77 went dark too, although the on screen programming guide indicated the games were supposed to be there. Hmm...

 

[KevinJ]

what channelwill the ncaa tourney be on this weekend?[i know espn won't have it due to the women's tourney]

 

[Justin1]

ESPN will carry it if the tourney is pre-empted on CBS. If this happens, ESPN2 will cover the women's tourney. ESPN2 has cleared its schedule and is showing just rerun material in order to carry the overflow from ESPN.