Apr 22, 2010 4:14:35 PM

The reach and visibility of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship is expanding with Thursday's announcement of a new 14-year, $10.8 billion television, Internet and wireless rights agreement with CBS Sports and Turner Broadcasting System.

CBS, which has been the television home of the championship since 1982, turned to a familiar partner to put together a package that will keep the tournament on its airwaves.

Turner Sports and CBS, which will combine to show every game of the tournament beginning in 2011, have previously collaborated to televise golf's PGA Championship and the Winter Olympics.

The foundation to secure the rights to the Division I Men's Basketball Championship began last fall.

"We probably talked about this deal at least once a day and often many more times than that since October," said Sean McManus, president of CBS News and Sports. "If you are creative enough and you find the right partners, there is a way that marquee sporting events remain a healthy presence on network television."

Many of sports marquee events have entered the cable broadcast world in recent years, such as the Major League Baseball playoffs, Monday Night Football and the NBA playoffs. This agreement is another step in that direction.

"We believe the television world has changed," said David Levy, president of sales, distribution and sports at Turner Broadcasting. "You will continue to see top-tier sporting events and sports leagues appear on broadcast and cable networks. The acquisition of this tournament is a landmark for our company."

Under the old contract, CBS owed the Association about $2.1 billion in the last three years of the agreement. This new deal helps lessen the network's financial burden.

"It's no secret that those years were going to be very challenging in terms of the economics because of the size of the rights fees," McManus said.

Viewers will want to know what this partnership means for them.

First, every game of the tournament will be shown on either CBS or Turner's family of networks (TBS, TNT and truTV). The NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee has recommended expanding the championship field to 68 teams, which, if approved by the NCAA Division I Board of Directors, would mean 67 nationally televised games.

All opening-, first- and second-round games will be seen on one of the four channels. Through 2015, CBS and Turner will split coverage of the regional semifinal games. CBS will provide coverage of the regional finals, as well as the Final Four, including the national championship game through 2015.

Beginning in 2016, coverage of the regional finals will be split between CBS and Turner.

Also that year, the Final Four and the national championship game will alternate every year between the CBS Sports and Turner's TBS.

The two broadcast entities will be sharing revenues and expenses over the life of the contract.

"We expect the look and feel of this programming to be consistent across CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV," Levy said. "It will have consistent branding alongside it. The consumer will see a similar look and feel across all platforms."

This includes NCAA March Madness on Demand that many sports fans have grown accustomed to viewing on their computers.

The Emmy Award-winning video player will continue to provide live streaming video of the tournament and be launched from NCAA.com and CBSSports.com.

Details still have to be finalized between CBS and Turner, but both McManus and Levy are adamant that they are in this together.

"We haven't talked if there will be separate studio shows, but it will be a joint production between Turner and CBS," McManus said. "This is not us producing our coverage, and TBS producing their coverage."
Viewers can expect to see a look-in or some selected highlights of a game being played at the same time, but fans of a particular program now will be assured of seeing that game in its entirety.