STAGGERED START

[BigE]

NCAA’s new TV deal to allow for staggered starts

Feb 10, 2:31 pm EST

NEW YORK (AP)—The NCAA tournament’s new TV deal will allow for more staggered starts of games, so all those buzzer-beaters aren’t happening at the same time.

The contract signed in April with CBS and Turner Sports meant all games would be televised live nationally for the first time. Because Turner’s three cable channels don’t have the same commitments to the nightly news and other regular programming as CBS, the tournament games will be more spread out starting this season.

That includes prime time games on TBS, TNT and truTV during the first Sunday, the networks announced Thursday.

Last season, when only CBS broadcast games, the first three contests on the opening Thursday afternoon started within 10 minutes of each other. Even for fans who had access to all the games through the free stream on the Internet or by buying the TV package, that often meant multiple matchups going down to the wire at the same time.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball ... rnament-tv

 

[BaNgMyPrOgRaM]

Thats a good idea!

 

[vcubanana]

It's a great idea. I unfortunately have to go to a conference Wed-Friday of the first weekend of the tourney in Atlanta, so I'm f'ed when we make the dance. Gotta win on Thurs/Fri, so I can go Sat./Sun. The staggered tv starts in addition to these new channels are huge for people that have no other choice.

 

[Hoos A Ram]

I'm sure I'll get used to it, but I actually really liked the lightening whip-arounds at the end of games. They generally didn't do it if it was a local game so that was never a problem. The good news is that I'll hopefully miss fewer games while at work now.

 

[artRAMinMN]

I'm with Hoos on this one... I don't like the sound of it. The mad rush of a shotgun start was most of the fun of the first round, especially since I'm only going to give an F about, at most, 20% of the teams. Too clever by half, and too much tailoring to suit the TV folks.