CBS and TBS averaged a 6.5 overnight for the four Elite 8 games over the weekend, up 8% from last year, which aired on Easter weekend. Last year’s Sunday Elite 8 games also aired later in the day due to Easter, with the second game in primetime. Yesterday’s North Carolina-Kentucky tilt drew a 9.5 overnight on CBS, peaking at a 13.6 rating from 7:15-7:30pm ET. To date, CBS and Turner are averaging a 6.6 overnight for the tourney, up 8% from last year. March Madness Live has already set a record for live streams, with 88 million to date (Karp & Carpenter, THE DAILY).
KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS: In N.Y., John Healy notes Columbus-based WBNS-CBS "cut to a blank screen" during yesterday's UNC-UK contest with 17 seconds remaining in a tight game to show a weather report issuing a tornado warning. By the time the station returned to the game UNC had won, 75-73. In an effort to "make up for its blunder," the station "tweeted they would air the final two minutes of the game" at 8:00pm CT (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 3/27).
GOOD TO HAVE YOU BACK: In Charlotte, Mark Washburn notes AT&T U-verse "reached an agreement" with Raycom Media yesterday, thus returning WBTV-CBS to its lineup. A settlement was "announced only hours before" UNC faced off against UK. UNC-Butler on Friday was "blacked out as Raycom and AT&T U-verse criticized each other over the delay in reaching a contract to carry WBTV and Raycom stations in Charlotte and 22 other cities" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 3/27).
DEWEY BEATS TRUMAN MOMENT: POLITICO noted basketball fans in several "Republican-adjacent TV markets" saw a series of ads, "prematurely bought by the American Action Network PAC, inviting viewers to call their representatives to thank them for repealing Obamacare." However, that repeal "did not happen." An ad praising U.S. Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) "ran during the Wizards-Nets game" on Friday night, while ads for David Valadao (R-Calif.) and David Young (R-Iowa) "ran on CBS stations before March Madness coverage" (POLITICO.com, 3/25).
FEEL THE VERNE: In N.Y., Mike Lupica wrote, "If you’re listening to these NCAA games, you know the great Verne Lundquist has lost nothing off his fastball" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 3/26). Lundquist was profiled on “CBS Sunday Morning” yesterday, with CBS' Jim Axelrod visiting the famed broadcaster at his home in Steamboat Springs, Colo. Lundquist's said of calling some of sports’ greatest moments: “The challenge is to be appropriate to the moment. To not embellish the moment, to not overwhelm it" ("CBS Sunday Morning," 3/26).
CRITICAL THINKING: In N.Y., Phil Mushnick wrote under the header, "NCAA TV Coverage: Class Is Not A Word You'll Hear." Mushnick: "As long as we’ve been watching the NCAA Tournament contested by student-athletes, isn’t there someone -- anyone -- on these telecasts who can explain for us how the players attend college, when they attend and whether their courses are taught in English?" (N.Y. POST, 3/26). Mushnick also writes Turner's Chris Webber has some "good moments," but he "often speaks in contradictory circles." CBS' Steve Lappas was "yanked a round too early" (N.Y. POST, 3/27).
