March 19, 2008
QUEENS, N.Y. - For the second-straight season, St. John's head coach Norm Roberts has been invited by CBS to participate in NCAA Tournament analysis as a part of its groundbreaking March Madness on Demand (MMOD) live Internet presentation of the 2008 men's basketball championship. CBSSports.com, in partnership with CBS Sports, CSTV and the NCAA, announced in February that this season, for the first time, its MMOD service would give users the ability to view 63 games of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship, from the first round of the tournament through the 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). 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 Roberts, CBSSports.com original video host Jason Horowitz and Rutgers head coach Fred Hill. "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. |
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