College Basketball on CBS

College Basketball on CBS
Logo used since 2006
Format	Sports
Created by	CBS Sports
Starring	See List of College Basketball on CBS personalities
Ending theme	"One Shining Moment"
Country of origin	United States
Production
Running time	120 minutes +
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Picture format	480i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV)
Original run	November 28, 1981 (1981-11-28) – present

College Basketball on CBS presented by State Farm (usually referred to on air as the Road to the Final Four) is a presentation of men's NCAA Division I basketball games on CBS. In 1982, CBS Sports obtained broadcast television rights to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship from NBC (who had aired it since 1969).

History

1980s

Besides being their first year covering the NCAA tournament,^[1] 1982 also marked the first year that the Selection Show^[2] was broadcast.

For their inaugural season, CBS had to scramble to arrange a regular season schedule as NBC still held exclusive rights to certain conferences. CBS also signed Billy Packer away from NBC to be its top analyst (teaming with play-by-play man Gary Bender^[3] and later Brent Musburger and Jim Nantz). Packer also played a key role in helping CBS put together its schedule. In the 1981-82 season, CBS did however, happen to obtain contracts with the Metro and Missouri Valley Conferences. During the 1982 tournament, CBS introduced 11:30 games on Thursday and Friday nights of for the first two weekends. CBS also aired an NBA game in the noon timeslot on Sunday, March 14 while only showing a doubleheader of NCAA games.

NFL on CBS broadcaster Tom Brookshier became the subject of controversy because of a remark he made during a Philadelphia Eagles vs. New Orleans Saints game broadcast on December 11, 1983. After a program note for an upcoming telecast of an NCAA men's basketball game involving the University of Louisville, Brookshier said that the players on the Louisville team had "a collective I.Q. of about 40". This resulted in Neal Pilson, then president of CBS Sports, apologizing to Louisville school officials and later suspending Brookshier for the last weekend of the NFL's regular season. Louisville's athletic director, Bill Olsen, felt that the remark was racist, since Louisville's starting five were all African American. Brookshier later apologized, calling his remark "stupid" and "dumb", but was angered over CBS' reaction, saying "I'm not about to be judged on one comment." He added, "I've done a lot of things for charity. Now my own network is bailing out on me and taking me off the air. After 20 years at CBS, I deserve better than this."^[4] The apology was accepted by the university, as its president, Donald Swain, invited Brookshier to be the featured speaker at the school's annual football kickoff luncheon in Clarksville, Indiana on August 2, 1984.^[5][6] Brookshier was reinstated in CBS's announcing lineup for the 1984 season, continuing as a network commentator through 1987.

For the 1984 tournament, CBS expanded its coverage on the first Sunday to a tripleheader. The following season marked the first year that CBS aired a regional semifinal tournament doubleheader, leaving ESPN with only one live game each of these nights. 1987 marked the first year that CBS used the song "One Shining Moment" for its tournament epilogue.

See also: NCAA_basketball_tournament_selection_process#Selection_Sunday

1990s

For the 1990 tournament, CBS expanded its coverage on the first Saturday to show a quadrupleheader. This particular tournament also marked Brent Musburger's last assignment for CBS. Although Musburger was fired on April Fools Day (Sunday during Final Four weekend), he still did play-by-play for the championship game. Musburger had done play-by-play (although he worked in the studio for the first weekends) for CBS' coverage of the Final Four since 1985.

In the 1990–91 season, CBS' February 10 broadcast of a game between UNLV and Arkansas (#1 vs #2 in the nation at the time, respectively) drew the highest rating for a regular season college basketball game since 1985.

In 1991, CBS assumed responsibility for covering all games of the NCAA tournament, with the exception of the single Tuesday night "play-in" game. (The play-in game - between teams ranked 64 & 65 - is televised by ESPN, except for the first one, which was aired on then-CBS owned TNN, and used CBS graphics and announcers.) For the evening sessions in the first round, CBS only came on the air at 7:30 p.m. for basketball in the regions which got a 7:30 game. Otherwise, most of the country was "in the dark" until 8 p.m. 1991 was also the first year that the Saturday regional finals started at 3:30 p.m.

In 1993, CBS adopted their current theme, which has been used in variations ever since (the first update coming in 2003).

The 1995 tournament was the first year that CBS moved the Sunday regional finals to 2:30 p.m. During the 1995–96 season, CBS used a "wheel" concept on selected days. In other words, they used a set of games with start times usually staggered by one hour. For example, CBS might have a game starting at 2 p.m., another one at 3 p.m., and a third one at 4 pm. Some areas of the country would see the 2 p.m. game, then join the middle game in progress around 4 p.m. (likely seeing the second half only), and then join the late game in progress around 5 pm. Other areas might see the first half of the 2 p.m. game, then see the entire 3 p.m. game and then join the late game in progress. CBS would periodically use this concept the next few seasons as well. It would influence how the 2011 tournament was conducted in terms of start times, except now four different networks would be airing games.

With the 1998 tournament, CBS started using the Jim Nantz-Billy Packer team to call games the first weekend. The previous several years, Nantz worked the studio on the first weekend (as was the case with his predecessor, Brent Musburger) while Packer called games with various partners.

2000s

In 2001, CBS assigned the team of Jim Nantz and Billy Packer to a Thursday/Saturday tournament regional for the first time ever. The following year had CBS broadcast the Saturday second round quadrupleheader at 1 p.m. and the Final Four to 6 p.m. for the first time.

On March 20 and 21, 2003, CBS provided Iraq War coverage during the afternoon sessions. As a result, so ESPN carried the tournament games using CBS announcers. This also led CBS to expand to a quadrupleheader on Sunday March 23. Also in 2003, CBS struck a deal with Yahoo! to offer live streaming of the first three rounds of games under its Yahoo! Platinum service, for $16.95 a month.^[7]

For 2004, CBS assigned Jim Nantz and Billy Packer to a Thursday-Saturday regional for the third time in four years. This was also the only year that team of Nantz and Packer worked Thursday-Saturday tournament games on each of the first two weekends. Also 2004, CBS sold access to March Madness On Demand for $9.95, which provided games not otherwise shown on broadcast television. The service was free for AOL subscribers.^[8] In 2005, the service charged $19.95 but offered enhanced coverage of pregame and postgame interviews and press conferences.^[9]

In 2006, March Madness On Demand was available free of charge, but dropped the coverage of interviews and press conferences. The service was profitable and set a record for simultaneous online streams at 268,000.^[10] March Madness On Demand has been available free to online users in all subsequent years.

In addition, CBS College Sports Network (formerly CSTV) broadcast two "late early" games that would not otherwise be broadcast nationally. These were the second games in the daytime session in the Pacific Time Zone, to avoid starting games before 10 a.m. These games are also available via March Madness on Demand and on CBS affiliates in the market areas of the team playing. In most markets, stations break between 5 and 7 p.m. EDT for regular late afternoon programming, which consists of local news and the CBS Evening News, plus other syndicated programming such as The Oprah Winfrey Show. In areas where The Price is Right was pre-empted for basketball, the game show aired in this window. CBS-CS also broadcast the official pregame and postgame shows and press conferences from the teams involved.^[11]

For the 2008 tournament, CBS moved the Saturday regional final doubleheader to 6:30 p.m. 2008 also marked the last NCAA tournament to be broadcast by Billy Packer (as he would be replaced by Clark Kellogg), a run that started in 1974.

HDTV coverage

The Final Four has been broadcast in HDTV since 1999. From 2000 to 2004, only one first/second round site and one regional site were designated as HDTV sites. In 2005, all regional games were broadcast in HDTV, and four first and second round sites were designated for HDTV coverage. Local stations broadcasting in both digital and analog had the option of airing separate games on their HD and SD channels, to take advantage of the available high definition coverage.

Beginning in 2007, all games in the tournament (including all first and second round games) were available in high definition, and local stations were required to air the same game on both their analog and digital channels. However, due to satellite limitations, first round "constant" feeds were only available in standard definition.^[12] Some digital television stations choose not to participate in HDTV broadcasts of the first and second rounds and the regional semifinals, and split their signal into digital subchannels to show all games going on simultaneously. Most notably, WRAL-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina has split its digital signal four ways since 2000 to show all of the games.^[13] In 2007, CBS broadcast all games from each regional site in HDTV, however, due to limitations in the CBS broadcast center, only the "Flex" feeds were in HD, constant feeds were in SD. Upgrades at the CBS broadcast center allowed all feeds, flex and constant, to be in HD for the 2008 tournament.

The entire country sees the regional finals, the national semifinals, and the national championship. At the end of CBS' coverage, a highlight reel featuring memorable moments from the tournament is shown, set to the song "One Shining Moment" originally written and performed by David Barrett, and subsequently covered by Teddy Pendergrass, Luther Vandross and beginning in 2010, Jennifer Hudson.

2010s

Despite CBS' contract to carry the tournament until 2013, the NCAA had the option of ending the agreement after the 2010 championship. This led to speculation that ESPN would snag the rights to future tournament games^[14] However, on April 22, 2010, the NCAA signed a 14-year agreement with CBS and Turner Broadcasting System worth more than $10.8 billion, allowing CBS to continue airing the entire regional finals through the national championship, with CBS and Turner splitting coverage of earlier rounds in the now 68-team field. After 2015, the regional finals, Final Four and national championship will alternate between CBS and TBS.^[15]

CBS receives the same number of "windows," or time slots, for its tournament coverage as in previous years. However, all games will now be nationally - rather than regionally - televised. Both games from a particular section and site are shown back-to-back on the same network each day, except for the second session on March 20, 2011, which was split between CBS and TruTV so that CBS could show 60 Minutes at its regular time, or as close to it as possible. CBS also keeps coverage of the Division II final, which is part of the larger contract for this tourney.

Tournament feed overview

Former

Until 2010, CBS broadcast the remaining 63 games of the NCAA tournament proper. Most areas saw only eight of 32 first round games, seven second round games, and four regional semifinal games (out of the possible 56 games during these rounds). Coverage preempted regular programming on the network, except during a 2 hour window from about 5 ET until 7 ET when the local affiliates could show programming. The CBS format resulted in far fewer hours of first-round coverage than under the old ESPN format, but allows the games to reach a much larger audience than ESPN is able to reach.

CBS provided three sets of feeds from each venue, known as "constant" "swing" and "flex." Constant feeds remained primarily on a given game, and were used primarily by stations with local interest in a game. Despite its name, a constant feed would occasionally veer away to other games for brief updates, but coverage generally remained with the initial game. Swing feeds tended to stay on games of natural interest, such as teams from local conferences, but would go to other games that are close. On a flex feed, coverage bounced around from one venue to another, depending on action at the various games in progress. If one game was a blowout, coverage would switch to a more competitive game. Flex games had no natural interest for the stations carrying them, allowing the flex game to be the best game in progress. Station feeds were planned in advance and stations had the option of requesting either constant or flex feed for various games. All games on DirecTV's Mega March Madness were the constant feed.

Current

As of 2011, CBS airs all of their games nationally. They will air a total of 26 games in 2011: eight second round games (four games per day), seven third round games (four games the first day and three games on the second due to a showing of 60 Minutes, as previously mentioned), four games in the Sweet Sixteen (two games per day), all of the Elite Eight (four games) and Final Four games (2 games), and the Championship Game.

Current regular season scheduling line-up (for 2011-12)

See also: Men's college basketball on television

In August 2008, the SEC announced an unprecedented 15-year television contract with CBS worth an estimated $55 million a year. This will continue the relationship the SEC already has with CBS, which puts the SEC in the unique position as the only conference to have its own exclusive national television network of the big three networks (CBS, NBC, and ABC) to display the SEC's events.^[16]

All Rankings from that week's AP Poll

Date	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4
December 3	12:00: North Carolina at Kentucky
December 10	12:00: Washington vs Duke
December 17	2:00: Butler vs Purdue	4:00: Memphis at Louisville Arizona vs Gonzaga
December 31	12:00: Louisville at Kentucky
January 8	TBD: Wisconsin at Michigan
January 14	TBD: Oregon at Arizona
January 15	TBD: Indiana at Ohio State
January 21	12:00: Alabama at Kentucky	2:00: Michigan at Arkansas	4:00: Connecticut at Tennessee Kansas at Texas
January 28	1:00: Texas at Baylor
January 29	1:00: Michigan at Ohio State
February 4	1:00: Vanderbilt at Florida Marquette at Notre Dame
February 5	1:00: Michigan at Michigan State
February 11	1:00: Connecticut at Syracuse
February 12	1:00: Illinois at Michigan
February 18	1:00: UCLA at St. John's UNLV at New Mexico	TBD: Indiana at Iowa
February 19	TBD: Penn State at Wisconsin Michigan State at Purdue
February 25	12:00: Vanderbilt at Kentucky	2:00: UCLA at Arizona Villanova at Georgetown	4:00: Missouri at Kansas
February 26	2:00: Pittsburgh at Louisville
March 3	12:00: Memphis at Tulsa	2:00: LSU at Auburn	4:00: Louisville at Syracuse	TBD: Washington at UCLA Washington State at USC Colorado at Oregon State Utah at Oregon
March 4	12:00: Kentucky at Florida	TBD: Ohio State at Michigan State Illinois at Wisconsin Michigan at Penn State
March 10
March 11

Commentators (past and present)

For more details on this topic, see List of College Basketball on CBS personalities.

Regular season current lineup (for 2010–11)

Studio: Greg Gumbel or Tim Brando or James Brown or Sam Ryan or Tracy Wolfson or Gus Johnson, Seth Davis and/or Greg Anthony or Clark Kellogg or Bill Cowher

• Jim Nantz or Verne Lundquist or Gus Johnson or Ian Eagle, play-by-play, Clark Kellogg, analyst, and Steve Kerr analyst.
  • Twelve games: Kentucky-North Carolina (with Johnson), St. Louis-Duke (with Eagle), Texas-North Carolina (with Lundquist), Kentucky-Louisville (with Johnson), Kansas-Michigan (with Lundquist), Maryland-Villanova (with Lundquist), Texas-Kansas (with Lundquist), Duke-St. John's (with Lundquist), Michigan State-Wisconsin (with Johnson), Ohio State-Purdue (with Lundquist), BYU-San Diego State (with Lundquist), Duke-North Carolina (with Nantz), Michigan-Ohio State (with Nantz)

• Gus Johnson or Greg Gumbel or Ian Eagle, play-by-play, and Greg Anthony, analyst.
  • Five games: Stanford-Butler (with Gumbel), Purdue-West Virginia, Ohio State-Illinois, Minnesota-Purdue (with Eagle), St. John's-UCLA (with Eagle)

• Verne Lundquist or Gus Johnson or Ian Eagle or Spero Dedes or Kevin Harlan or Tim Brando, play-by-play, and Bill Raftery, analyst.
  • Six games: South Carolina-Ohio State (with Dedes), Tennessee-Connecticut (with Eagle), Florida-Mississippi State (with Harlan), Illinois-Northwestern (with Brando), Indiana-Ohio State (with Johnson), Villanova-Pittsburgh (with Lundquist)

• Kevin Harlan or Gus Johnson, play-by-play, and Dan Bonner, analyst.
  • Four games: Stanford-UCLA (with Harlan), Florida-Kentucky (with Harlan), Kansas-Missouri (with Johnson), Wisconsin-Ohio State (with Johnson)

• Kevin Harlan, play-by-play, Reggie Miller, analyst, and Dan Bonner, analyst.
  • One Game: Memphis-UTEP

• Kevin Harlan, play-by-play, and Reggie Miller, analyst.
  • One game: Kentucky-Tennessee

• Ian Eagle, play-by-play, and Jim Spanarkel, analyst.
  • Two games: Pittsburgh-Louisville, Indiana State-Missouri State

• Tim Brando, play-by-play, and Mike Gminski, analyst.
  • Two games: Syracuse-Georgetown, Michigan State-Michigan

• Spero Dedes, play-by-play, and Bob Wenzel, analyst.
  • One game: Oregon-Arizona

NCAA Tournament lineup (for 2010–11)

Studio Hosts: Greg Gumbel, Ernie Johnson and Matt Winer

Studio Analysts: Greg Anthony, Charles Barkley, Seth Davis, Reggie Miller, Kenny Smith, Steve Smith, Tom Crean and Rick Pitino

1. Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg, Steve Kerr and Tracy Wolfson
2. Marv Albert, Steve Kerr and Craig Sager
3. Verne Lundquist, Bill Raftery and Lesley Visser
4. Gus Johnson, Len Elmore and Marty Snider
5. Kevin Harlan, Reggie Miller, Dan Bonner and Sam Ryan
6. Ian Eagle, Jim Spanarkel and David Aldridge
7. Tim Brando, Mike Gminski and Lewis Johnson
8. Spero Dedes, Bob Wenzel and Jaime Maggio

In relation to The NBA on CBS

Main article: NBA on CBS

CBS often used the same analysts for both the NBA Playoffs and NCAA Tournament. Tom Heinsohn, Billy Cunningham,^[17] and Hubie Brown all worked NCAA Regionals during years when also serving as the lead NBA analyst for CBS. Billy Packer worked NBA playoff games in 1987 and 1988 while he was the CBS' lead college basketball analyst.

Theme music

The current theme for CBS' coverage, simply titled "CBS NCAA Basketball Theme", was written by Bob Christianson and has been in use by the network since the 1992-1993 season.^[18] While different arrangements have been used over that time, the melody has remained largely the same. The theme has also carried over to TBS, TNT and truTV as part of its tournament coverage partnership with CBS.

References

1. ^ March 29, 1982 In CBS Sports' first-ever broadcast of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship game, University of North Carolina, with freshman Michael Jordan, beats Georgetown for the NCAA crown. CBS Sports wins the Outstanding Live Sports Special Emmy Award for its coverage.
2. ^ March 7, 1982 For the first time ever, the "NCAA Selection Show" is broadcast live to a national audience by CBS Sports.
3. ^ April 14, 1983 In an NCAA Men's Basketball Championship game upset, Gary Bender and Billy Packer call North Carolina State's upset of the University of Houston.
4. ^ "SPORTS PEOPLE; Brookshier Penalized". The New York Times. December 14, 1983. http://www.nytimes.com/1983/12/14/sports/sports-people-brookshier-penalized.html. Retrieved August 13, 2010. 
5. ^ "SPORTS PEOPLE; Louisville Gesture". The New York Times. July 12, 1984. http://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/12/sports/sports-people-louisville-gesture.html. Retrieved August 13, 2010. 
6. ^ "SPORTS PEOPLE; Brookshier's 'Penance'". The New York Times. August 3, 1984. http://www.nytimes.com/1984/08/03/sports/sports-people-brookshier-s-penance.html. Retrieved August 13, 2010. 
7. ^ "Yahoo unveils Platinum paid service". CNET News.com. http://news.com.com/Yahoo+unveils+Platinum+paid+service/2100-1032_3-992691.html. Retrieved 2007-03-17. 
8. ^ http://www.paidcontent.org/pc/arch/2004_03_16.shtml#005874
9. ^ NCAA MARCH MADNESS ON DEMAND SPEARHEADS CSTV.COM'S ONLINE COVERAGE :: CSTV.com Features Exclusive Blogs From Coaches Norm Roberts, Steve Fisher And Pat Kennedy, Streaming Video of Classic NCAA Tournament Moments, Exclusive Columns From Matt Doherty, Brian Curtis, Debbie Antonelli, Jerry Palm
10. ^ Streamingmedia.com: CBS’s NCAA March Madness On Demand Sets Internet Record For Simultaneous Live Viewing Of An Entertainment Or Sports Event
11. ^ CSTV.com: #1 in College Sports - Men's Basketball
12. ^ Why we didn’t get Stanford in HDTV (but the rest of the country did) - Morning Buzz
13. ^ WRAL Digital Airs Entire NCAA Basketball Tournament
14. ^ ESPN to snag the Final Four? Don Surber, Daily Mail
15. ^ NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament Expands To 68 Teams; CBS Adds Turner To Television Team (press release via TV by the Numbers)
16. ^ About the Southeastern Conference
17. ^ Billy Cunningham has made NBA telecasts smoother
18. ^ CBS NCAA Basketball Theme Made Composer Big Bucks

External links

• NCAA Basketball - CBSSports.com
• Sports Media Watch: College Basketball on CBS
  • Sports Media Watch: NCAA Tournament on CBS
• NCAA 2008 Final Four - San Antonio > Tournament History
  • 1980-1989
  • 1990-1999
  • 2000-2007

Preceded by NBC

NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship television broadcaster 1982 -

Succeeded by Incumbent