The Madness of CBS: free online college hoops games

Iria · Dec 7, 2005, 03:19 PM

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - CBS Sports will offer out-of-market basketball games for free online during NCAA March Madness.

It's the fourth year that CBS Sports has offered the mostly regional games, ones that wouldn't appear across the whole network, beginning March 16. There will be as many as 56 NCAA men's tournament games available on the Web, beginning with the first games and continuing through the regional semi-finals. For the first three years, including last year with http://www.CSTV.com, it was a premium service.

But this year, CBS has shifted NCAA March Madness on Demand to an ad-supported service in an effort to gain more viewers. It's also in line with CBS' online strategy in news and elsewhere.

"We felt it was time to continue the evolution to an ad-supported free model that will be the biggest growth down the road," CBS Sports senior vp programming Michael Aresco said.
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Source: Reuters

Dec 7, 2005, 03:19 PM	#1
Iria DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 7,275 Rep Power: 89	The Madness of CBS: free online college hoops games NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - CBS Sports will offer out-of-market basketball games for free online during NCAA March Madness. It's the fourth year that CBS Sports has offered the mostly regional games, ones that wouldn't appear across the whole network, beginning March 16. There will be as many as 56 NCAA men's tournament games available on the Web, beginning with the first games and continuing through the regional semi-finals. For the first three years, including last year with http://www.CSTV.com, it was a premium service. But this year, CBS has shifted NCAA March Madness on Demand to an ad-supported service in an effort to gain more viewers. It's also in line with CBS' online strategy in news and elsewhere. "We felt it was time to continue the evolution to an ad-supported free model that will be the biggest growth down the road," CBS Sports senior vp programming Michael Aresco said. ____________ Source: Reuters