The NCAA, CBS Sports and DirecTV, Inc., have reached an exclusive agreement for DirecTV to offer telecasts of out-of-market games from the first three rounds of the 2001 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship on a pay-per-view basis.

The announcement was made by Mike Tranghese, chair of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee and commissioner of the Big East Conference; CBS Sports President Sean McManus; and Michael Thornton, senior vice-president at DirecTV.

For the third consecutive year, DirecTV subscribers will be able to choose any game from the first three rounds of the tournament that is not broadcast via their local CBS affiliate. All games will be produced by CBS Sports. Viewers will see no change in CBS Sports' exclusive live coverage of all 63 games of the championship; DirecTV's pay-per-view distribution of out-of-market games will supplement CBS' broadcast of the tournament.

"We are excited that dedicated college basketball fans, no matter where they live, can continue to watch their favorite teams' games throughout the tournament," Tranghese said.

Thornton said the ability to provide the widest array of premium sports programming, especially exclusive packages like Mega March Madness, has been a cornerstone in successfully building and marketing the DirecTV brand. "We're very excited to be offering these out-of-market games exclusively to DirecTV customers for the third consecutive year," he said.

Pricing and packaging will be announced in the first quarter of 2001.

For the 12th consecutive year, CBS Sports will produce exclusive live coverage of every game of the NCAA men's basketball championship, culminating with the national championship game Monday, April 2, from the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis.