Final Four Marches into Cable TV Future

Coverage Type: 

When the NCAA men’s basketball championship game tips off on April 6 on CBS, it will be the end of an era of sorts. No, I’m not talking about the final game in the long, illustrious college basketball careers of Kentucky and Duke’s freshmen. Rather, this is the last year before the title game, which has aired on a broadcast network since 1969 and CBS since 1982, hits cable.

Turner, which already shares tournament coverage with CBS, will air the 2016 championship game on TBS. The title game will alternate between CBS and TBS until 2024, so it will be back on CBS in 2017. Saturday's Final Four semifinal games will air on TBS, as they did in 2014, while Turner will show the title game (and semifinal games) on TNT and truTV with team-specific “homer” announcers. But Turner superseding CBS is a major turning point in the broadcasting history of the NCAA Tournament -- and the continuation of a trend in major sports, set off by ESPN’s record-rated broadcast of the new College Football Playoff championship game in January.


Final Four Marches into Cable TV Future