CBS SportsLine Has High Expectations For Tourney Webcasts

March Madness On Demand Available Free Of Charge For First Time

CBS SportsLine, in conjunction with CBS Sports, CSTV and the NCAA, has launched March Madness on Demand, the online video player that will stream the first 56 games of the Division I Men’s Basketball Championship. The service, which debuted in ’03, will be offered free of charge for the first time, and is available at NCAASports.com, CBS SportsLine and CSTV.com. During the tournament’s first round on March 16-17, access to the games will be managed using a “virtual waiting room,” meaning virtual lines will form when demand exceeds capacity (CBS SportsLine).

EXPECTATIONS: A CBS SportsLine spokesperson indicated that the service “can serve about 200,000 video streams at a time,” but “more users than that are expected on the opening day” of the tournament. That would make it the “largest interactive media event in history, eclipsing the 175,000 simultaneous streams AOL delivered” during the Live 8 concerts last summer. SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL’s Andy Bernstein reports 19 advertisers have signed on, including Dell, Courtyard by Marriott, State Farm, Lowe’s and Pontiac. Ads will be shown “in place of the ones shown on the CBS broadcasts” (SBJ, 3/6 issue). MEDIAWEEK’s Mike Shields reports SportsLine is “capping the total number of concurrent viewers by inviting between 400,000 to 1 million fans to register for free VIP access.” Non-VIPs will have to wait in the virtual line (MEDIAWEEK, 3/6 issue). CBS Digital Media President Larry Kramer predicted the Webcasts will “get several million people. It wouldn’t surprise me to get the audience they get on TV, but stretched out” (BUSINESSWEEK, 3/13 issue).

AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’: BUSINESSWEEK’s Timothy Mullaney that the software “is designed to let people view games while keeping bosses from knowing who’s goofing off.” A “boss button” on the video player displays a spreadsheet when pressed. CBS News & Sports President Sean McManus: “Not that I recommend watching during work hours, but I understand that people do” (BUSINESSWEEK, 3/13 issue).