''NCAA March Madness'' is the branding used for coverage of the
NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from ...
that is jointly produced by
CBS Sports, the sports division of the
CBS television network, and
Warner Bros. Discovery Sports, the national sports division of
Warner Bros. Discovery in the United States. Through the agreement between CBS and Warner Bros. Discovery, which began with the
2011 tournament, games are televised on
CBS,
TNT,
TBS and
truTV.
CBS Sports Network has re-aired games from all networks.
Initially, CBS continued to provide coverage during most rounds, with the three WarnerMedia channels covering much of the early rounds up to the
Sweet Sixteen. Starting in 2016, the regional finals, Final Four and national championship game began to alternate between CBS and TBS.
TBS holds the rights to the final two rounds in even numbered years, with CBS getting the games in odd numbered years.
This joint tournament coverage should be distinguished from CBS's
regular-season coverage, which it produces independently through its sports division. , none of Warner Bros. Discovery's outlets cover regular-season college basketball games. Games broadcast on all four networks use a variation of the longtime ''CBS College Basketball'' theme (which has been used since
1993
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...
) music composed by Bob Christianson.
Background and coverage breakdown
On April 22, 2010, the
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) reached a 14-year agreement, worth
US$10.8 billion, with CBS and the
Turner Broadcasting System to receive joint broadcast rights to the Division I men's college basketball tournament.
This came after speculation that
ESPN would try to obtain the rights to future tournament games. The NCAA took advantage of an opt-out clause in its 1999 deal with CBS (which ran through 2013, even though the NCAA had the option of ending the agreement after the
2010 championship) to announce its intention to sign a new contract with CBS and
Turner Sports, a division of
WarnerMedia (Which later was absorbed into
Warner Bros. Discovery who, incidentally, jointly owned
The CW with the CBS television network's corporate parent
Paramount Global). The new contract came amid serious consideration by the NCAA of expanding the tournament to 68 teams.
The agreement, which runs through 2032 (extended from 2024 in 2016),
stipulates that all games are available nationally. All First Four games air on
truTV. During the first and second rounds, a featured game in each time "window" is broadcast terrestrially on CBS (15 games), while all other games are shown on
TBS (12 games),
TNT (12 games) or truTV (nine games). Sweet 16 (regional semifinal) and Elite 8 (regional finals) games are split among CBS and TBS. In 2014 and 2015, Turner channels had exclusive rights to the Final Four (with standard coverage airing on TBS), and CBS broadcast the championship game. Since 2016, rights to the Final Four and championship game alternate between Turner and CBS; the 2016 tournament marked the first time that the national championship game was not broadcast on over-the-air television.
The same number of "windows" are provided to CBS as before, although unlike with the previous schedule where all games in a window started within 10 minutes of each other, resulting in the possibility of multiple close games ending at once, the start times of games are staggered, with action lasting later in the night and fewer simultaneous games than in the previous format. As a result of the new deal, Mega March Madness, a
pay-per-view
Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast.
Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program guid ...
out-of-market sports package covering games in the tournament exclusive to
DirecTV, including a first and second round 'quad-box' channel showing all four games on one screen, was discontinued.
''March Madness On Demand'' (now called ''March Madness Live'') remained unchanged, with Turner Interactive taking over management of both that service and NCAA.com at the start of 2011. The contract was expected to be signed after a review by the NCAA Board of Directors. In 2012, the service was changed; only games televised by CBS are available for free. All other games are available to
authenticated subscribers to the channels on participating television providers. The 2018 tournament, with TBS televising the national semifinals and final, is the first in which those particular games are subject to authentication restrictions.
In 2018, March Madness Live added a new "whiparound" stream during the early rounds known as ''Fast Break'' (similar in concept to
NFL RedZone and
ESPN Buzzer Beater), which features live look-ins, analysis, and highlights of simultaneous games.
The CBS-WarnerMedia coverage formally begins with ''The Selection Show''—in which the teams participating in the tournament are announced, which follows CBS's coverage of the final game on
Selection Sunday. During the tournament itself, truTV broadcasts pre-game coverage, ''Infiniti NCAA Tip-Off'', while TBS and TruTV also air the post-game show ''Inside March Madness''. CBS also produces coverage of the
Reese's College All-Star Game
The Reese's College All-Star Game, founded by the NABC NABC is an initialism that may refer to any of the following:
*North American Bridge Championships, North American contract bridge tournaments
* National Association of Basketball Coaches ...
(held on the afternoon of the Final Four at its venue), and the
Division II championship game, which are both aired as part of the ''March Madness'' package.
In 2016, CBS extended the selection show to a two-hour format; however, the new special was criticized by viewers for being too padded, while the full bracket was
leaked online shortly into the broadcast.
In 2017, the selection show was shortened to a 90-minute format, promising to reveal the bracket in a more timely manner.
In 2018, the selection show aired for the first time on TBS, with a studio audience and in a two-hour format, in which the entire field of the tournament would be revealed within the first 10 minutes. However, this involved initially revealing the teams in alphabetical order, and not the bracket proper—a decision which proved unpopular among critics and viewers. The show returned to an hour-long format on CBS the following year, and the 2020 edition was also expected to air on CBS.
On April 16, 2016, the contract was extended to 2032 in an $8.8 billion deal. The current broadcasting arrangements, including alternating broadcasts of the semi-finals and final, will remain in force.
WarnerMedia began the process of dissolving the Turner Broadcasting System in March 2019. The corporate reorganization will not outwardly affect coverage of ''NCAA March Madness'', which remains on the same networks.
The
2020 tournament was cancelled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is a part of the COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the Uni ...
. All technicians and utility staff who were expected to work the tournament were still paid, while CBS aired classic Final Four games on the afternoons of March 21, 22, and 29 as replacement programming.
The addition of
NHL coverage affected coverage during the
2022 First Four on March 16. When the game between the
Boston Bruins and the
Minnesota Wild ran long, neither TBS (due to
AEW Dynamite) nor truTV (due to continuing coverage of the
Rutgers-
Notre Dame
Notre Dame, French for "Our Lady", a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, most commonly refers to:
* Notre-Dame de Paris, a cathedral in Paris, France
* University of Notre Dame, a university in Indiana, United States
** Notre Dame Fighting Irish, th ...
First Four game) were available for the start of the
Tampa Bay Lightning-
Seattle Kraken NHL game. The start of the hockey game was moved to a fourth channel,
HLN.
Team Streams
Additionally, for 2014, truTV and TNT aired special "Teamcast" coverage of the Final Four alongside TBS's conventional coverage, which featured commentators and other guests representing the schools in each game.
While the consortium planned to tap local radio announcers from each team for the teamcasts, the majority refused due to commitments in calling the games for their local radio networks. However, Turner Sports' senior vice president of production, Craig Barry, did expect such difficulties, and planned accordingly with the possibility of using talent from outlets associated with the team, general region, or their conference (such as
regional networks).
The Teamcast feeds returned for the 2015 tournament, now branded as ''Team Stream powered by
Bleacher Report
Bleacher Report (often abbreviated as B/R) is a website that focuses on sport and sports culture. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, with offices in New York City and London.
Bleacher Report was acquired by Turner Broadcasting System in Aug ...
''. For 2016, they were also used on the National Championship game.
As CBS prefers having a singular broadcast feed, the Team Stream feature is not used during any year that CBS holds the rights to the Final Four.
The Team Stream feature was also not used for the 2022 NCAA Final Four and that year's National Championship game as truTV and TNT instead simulcast TBS' respective games.
Other college basketball coverage from Turner Sports
Prior to 2011, Turner Sports' best known association with college basketball perhaps occurred on December 11, 1982, when TBS (with the
aid of more than 100 independent
network affiliates and
station
Station may refer to:
Agriculture
* Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production
* Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle
** Cattle statio ...
s) broadcast a contest between
Virginia and
Georgetown (led by
Ralph Sampson and
Patrick Ewing respectively). The game in question (in which TBS paid approximately US$600,000 for the broadcasting rights) was called by
Skip Caray and
Abe Lemons.
Beginning in 2012, TruTV also began to air the preseason
Coaches vs. Cancer Classic
The Coaches vs. Cancer Classic was an annual college basketball tournament event benefiting cancer research held from 2012 to 2014. The event was held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, and televised by truTV. The tournament replaced t ...
as part of a separate deal between Turner Sports and the
National Association of Basketball Coaches.
During the
2021–22 season, TNT broadcast three regular season games, all showcasing HBCU’s. They first aired the inaugural Invesco QQQ Legacy Classic, which featured
North Carolina Central
North Carolina Central University (NCCU or NC Central) is a public historically black university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by James E. Shepard in affiliation with the Chautauqua movement in 1909, it was supported by private funds from ...
meeting
Hampton, followed by
Howard
Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...
taking on
North Carolina A&T. Both games took place at the
Prudential Center in
Newark, New Jersey, and were called by
Stephanie Ready (herself an HBCU alum from
Coppin State),
Grant Hill
Grant Henry Hill (born October 5, 1972) is an American former professional basketball player who is a co-owner and executive of the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He attended Duke University and is widely considere ...
(lead analyst for CBS/Turner’s March Madness coverage, alongside
Bill Raftery), and
Bleacher Report
Bleacher Report (often abbreviated as B/R) is a website that focuses on sport and sports culture. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, with offices in New York City and London.
Bleacher Report was acquired by Turner Broadcasting System in Aug ...
’s
Taylor Rooks, with
Entertainment Tonight
''Entertainment Tonight'' (or simply ''ET'') is an American Broadcast syndication, first-run syndicated news broadcasting news magazine, newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Para ...
’s
Kevin Frazier (himself an HBCU alum from
Morgan State Morgan may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Morgan (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Morgan le Fay, a powerful witch in Arthurian legend
* Morgan (surname), a surname of Welsh origin
* Morgan (singer ...
), former
WNBA great
Renee Montgomery
Renee Danielle Montgomery (born December 2, 1986) is an American former professional basketball player, sports broadcaster and activist who is currently vice president, part-owner, and investor of the Atlanta Dream, and one of three owners of th ...
, and
NBA TV’s
Brendan Haywood. TNT later showed the inaugural NBA-HBCU Classic between Morgan State and Howard. Unlike the Legacy Classic, the NBA-HBCU Classic was simulcast on NBA TV, TNT, and
ESPN2, using NBA TV production, but utilizing announcers from both Turner and ESPN. TNT employed Ready,
Isiah Thomas
Isiah Lord Thomas III (born April 30, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player and coach who is an analyst for ''NBA TV''. The 12-time NBA All-Star was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History as well as the 75 Grea ...
(member of the NBA’s
75th Anniversary Team), Haywood, and Rooks, while ESPN employed
Brian Custer (himself an HBCU alum from Hampton), and
First Take and
NBA Countdown’s
Stephen A. Smith (himself an HBCU alum from
Winston-Salem State).
International coverage
The same year that the CBS-Turner consortium took over,
ESPN International acquired rights to the tournament for broadcast outside of the United States for networks such as
TSN
TSN may refer to:
Science and technology
* Translin, DNA binding protein involved in microRNA function
* Taxonomic serial number, a stable and unique taxonomic serial number issued by the Integrated Taxonomic Information System
* The Science Netwo ...
in Canada.
While most of the coverage is simulcast from the main U.S. feeds, coverage of the Final Four and national championship game uses a separate world feed produced by the ''
ESPN College Basketball'' staff; in
2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...
, the Final Four broadcasts on ESPN International were called by ESPN's lead commentators
Dan Shulman and
Dick Vitale (alternatively joined by
Brad Nessler for the second semi-final game).
After Nessler left ESPN,
Sean McDonough became the primary play-by-play host, joined by ESPN college basketball analysts
Jay Bilas and Vitale.
TUDN broadcasts the tournament in
Mexico; CBS and Turner Sports also feature Spanish play-by-play in the United States via each network's
second audio program.
Commentary
CBS and WarnerMedia pool their resources for the tournament. While CBS's
Jim Nantz remains the lead voice for the tournament, CBS's analysts are joined by analysts from
NBA TV and
TNT. TNT’s #2 play-by-play man
Brian Anderson, who is also the #1 play-by-play announcer for
TBS’ baseball coverage, and the main play-by-play announcer for the
Milwaukee Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...
, is provided by WarnerMedia. Former lead TNT NBA voice
Marv Albert did the same with Anderson, until he ended his association with CBS. (TNT's #1, #3, and #4 NBA voices,
Kevin Harlan,
Ian Eagle, and
Spero Dedes, are already employed by CBS and thus do not require special arrangement to appear.)
Coverage originates from the
CBS Broadcast Center in
New York City, and the Turner Sports studio in
Atlanta, where many of the studio shows for the latter division's coverage of the
NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
,
MLB, and the
NHL emanate from.
CBS's college basketball studio host
Greg Gumbel and ''
Inside the NBA'' host
Ernie Johnson split hosting duties in the New York studio during the opening rounds, while Gumbel hosts full-time during the regionals.
Turner's
Nabil Karim hosts in the Atlanta studio during the First Four and Opening Rounds. Johnson hosts in Atlanta during the regional semifinals. Johnson's colleagues on ''Inside the NBA'',
Charles Barkley and
Kenny “The Jet” Smith, join CBS analyst
Clark Kellogg in the studio in New York City, while Karim is joined by
Chicago Sky power forward and Turner colleague
Candace Parker,
CNN's
Rex Chapman, and CBS's
Seth Davis in Atlanta. NBA on TNT Tuesday analyst
Dwyane Wade
Dwyane Tyrone Wade Jr. (; born January 17, 1982) is an American former professional basketball player. Wade spent the majority of his 16-year career playing for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and won three NBA champi ...
will occasionally join the studio crew as well. NBA on TNT Tuesday host Adam Lefkoe provides game updates from the first round through the Sweet 16.
Graphics
2011–2015
During the first five years of the television deal, all games used Turner Sports graphics, which reflect from
Turner Sports’ NBA coverage. Games on CBS simply used the CBS logo on Turner's graphics package, including the Final Four and National Championship Game.
2016–2019
With CBS Sports unveiling a new graphics package at
Super Bowl 50 in February 2016, a new graphics package was unveiled. This time, the networks all used CBS’s graphics. Despite this being the first year that the Final Four and National Championship aired on TBS (as part of an every-other-year arrangement), the 2016 CBS graphics are now used for all games, including those on TBS, TNT and truTV. However, the games use a slightly different version of the scoreboard that has the network logo in the middle, and in black, as opposed to the usual white logo on the left. For TBS/TNT/truTV games, the network logo simply replaces the CBS eye logo.
This tournament version of the scoreboard is anchored to the edges of the screen with shadows, which light up in team colors after a made basket, an effect not seen on CBS's graphics anywhere else. ''
NBA on TNT'' and ''
Major League Baseball on TBS'' also used this graphic package.
In 2018, CBS and Turner modified their logo for March Madness, by changing it to the logo introduced by the NCAA in 2016. However, despite the logo change, the in-game graphics remained unchanged.
2021–present
Following CBS Sports’ rebranding during the week of
Super Bowl LV
Super Bowl LV was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2020 season. The National Football Conference (NFC) champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the American Football Conferen ...
, as part of CBS' unified branding, CBS and WarnerMedia unveiled a new in-game graphics package for the tournament during the Selection Show. However, despite the graphics change, the logo, which was introduced in 2018, remains unchanged.
The tournament version of this scoreboard uses a similar layout of CBS’s regular season graphics, with the CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV logos on the left side of the score bar, and an extra bar being added to the end displaying what round and which region each game is in (e.g. NCAA West 1st Round).
Theme music
As previously mentioned, all four networks use a variation of the ''CBS College Basketball Theme'' during the tournament, arranged by
Trevor Rabin, who scores the iconic
NBA on TNT theme. CBS had continued to use the arrangement that had been in use since 2004 during its
regular season coverage, but switched to the March Madness version during the 2021-22 season. Since 1987, CBS/Turner’s coverage of March Madness always concludes with "
One Shining Moment", the current version performed by
Luther Vandross
Luther Ronzoni Vandross Jr. (April 20, 1951 – July 1, 2005) was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Known for his sweet and soulful vocals, Vandross has sold over 40 million records worldwide. He achieved eleven consecutive P ...
.
During all intros and outros into commercial breaks in the 2014 coverage, Spanish coverage
Galavision used ''
Fiesta
''Fiesta'' (Spanish for "religious feast", "festival", or "party") may refer to:
Events
*Fiesta San Antonio, a 10-day event held every April in San Antonio, Texas
*St. Peter's Fiesta, a five-day festival in Gloucester, Massachusetts
*Fiestas d ...
'' by Chilean Singer
Denise Rosenthal, all broadcasters used ''
Shot At The Night'' by
The Killers as the theme/bumper music.
During select intros and into commercial breaks in the 2016 coverage, all broadcasters used "Turn Up" by
The Heavy as the bumper music.
For the 2017 tournament, all broadcasts used "
Something Just Like This" by American EDM group
The Chainsmokers
The Chainsmokers are an American electronic DJ and production duo consisting of Alexander "Alex" Pall and Andrew "Drew" Taggart. They started out by releasing remixes of songs by indie artists. The EDM- pop duo achieved a breakthrough with the ...
and British group
Coldplay, as its bumper music.
For 2018, CBS and Turner used Irish-Rock band
U2’s song "
American Soul", from their new album ''
Songs of Experience''. They also used "
Say Amen (Saturday Night)" by American rock band
Panic! at The Disco
Panic! at the Disco is the solo project of American musician Brendon Urie. It was originally a pop rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada, formed in 2004 by childhood friends Urie, Ryan Ross, Spencer Smith, and Brent Wilson. They recorded their firs ...
during the Final Four on TBS.
2019 featured the return of
The Black Keys to March Madness, with their comeback single
Lo/Hi, off their comeback album ''
Let's Rock'', being used as the main song for CBS and Turner’s coverage. CBS also used "
Hey Look Ma, I Made It" by Panic! at the Disco for the Bracket Preview Show.
2020 was to feature a song on
TUDN called "Contigo" by
Mirela for March Madness. After 3 years of using alternative/rock artists, CBS and Turner were scheduled to use "
Dance Again", by American pop singer
Selena Gomez.
2021 continued the planned trend of using electronic dance music, with CBS and Turner using "
Big Love" by American DJ duo
Louis the Child and American hip hop duo
EarthGang. CBS also used
This Is Heaven by American pop singer
Nick Jonas for the Final Four. TUDN uses United by Love with
Natalia Oreiro.
In 2022, TUDN used Indispensable by
Lucero Lucero may refer to:
* Lucero (given name) a Spanish given name
* Lucero (surname) a Spanish surname
* Lucero (entertainer) (born 1969), Mexican singer and actress
** ''Lucero'' (album), eponymous album released in 1993
* Lucero (band), an America ...
as a theme song. CBS and Turner meanwhile used "Freedom" by
Jon Batiste, a jazz and R&B singer from New Orleans who also serves as the bandleader for CBS' ''
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert''.
References
External links
''NCAA March Madness Live'' - Official site''NCAA Basketball on CBS'' - Official site''NCAA March Madness'' — Turner Sports Media*
''NCAA Basketball on TBS'' - Official site
*
''NCAA Basketball on TNT'' - Official site*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ncaa March Madness (Tv program)
2011 American television series debuts
CBS Sports
CBS original programming
Turner Sports
English-language television shows
Joint ventures
Simulcasts
TNT (American TV network) original programming
TruTV original programming
Turner Sports
TBS (American TV channel) original programming