It’s Madness Time: Join the MSR Bracket, Follow the NIT @ ESPN

Is anyone getting any work done today, or is everyone filling out brackets? If you are looking for a place to show the world your NCAA hoops savvy look no farther than the inaugural MSR Bracket Challenge. Hosted over at ESPN, of course, the group is public so come one come all. If you are searching for the group its title is the “MSR Bracket Challenge.” We’ll think of some cool prize for winning; if any sponsors want to step up with some schwag hit me with an email to kaps at mobilesportsreport.com.

Also: If your team didn’t make the dance (Sorry Washington fans!) you will probably be headed over to ESPN since the WWL has the rights to the National Invitation Tournament, including some games shown only online at ESPN3. Here’s the full NIT broadcast schedule.

And here’s a great post from The Big Lead showing NCAA broadcast times and (most importantly) which announcing crews will be on hand.

UPDATE: How cool is this? A CBS Sports interactive map of the tournament field.

March Madness coming to a Tablet or Smartphone near you

Selection Sunday is just a few days away and the day after is National Bracket Day (sadly not a day off where I work), two important days as fans prepare for the annual March Madness; the NCAA Basketball Tournaments are upon us!

There are of course a wide range of viewing options available for a fan, starting with calling in sick and staying home, but for many that will not be a viable option, but what is an option is to buy into March Madness Live- formerly March Madness on Demand and watch the game anywhere, on tablet, phones or computers.

The goal of this program, launched by the NCAA, Turner Sports and CBS Sports is to make available for viewing every minute of all the games in the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship Tournament.

Viewing options will range from smartphones, both Apple iOS and Android powered, as well as iPod Touch and iPads as well as broadcast the games on-line so that viewers in an office can catch the action.

While a quick glance online the day of games will tell a fan that is staying home what is on and where, the online and mobile world is a little different, and has a price tag attached as well.

The Turner Sports Interactive produced NCAA March Madness Live is a suite of live products that are designed for those without the luxury of watching from home or the local watering hole. Starting today, Wed. March 7, it will make available to subscribers access across multiple screens and devices including online, iPad, iPhone and iPod touch app and, for the first time, on Android phones, all for $3.99.

Even if you have the ability to watch at home you can subscribe and stream a version, an alternate games, over Wi-Fi. Live video is not all a user will gain. The app also features video highlights from games, game alerts and a radio option from Westwood One/Dial Global Radio Network, for all 67 games.

The app will feature live streaming video of every broadcast for the 2012 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship as they are televised by TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV, starting with the NCAA Basketball Selection Show on Sunday, March 11, and continuing through the Men’s Final Four and National Championship Game from New Orleans on March 31 and April 2.

For years I have seen articles written around this time of year cited some massive number as the amount of productivity that American businesses lose due to the NCAA Tournament. Most of them I just discount because people simply shift their goof off/idle time at work from one area to another rather than cease work. This year it could be different!

Fans Must Pay $3.99 to Watch NCAA Hoops via Mobile Devices

There’s no such thing as a free lunch, and now there’s no such thing as free access to the NCAA Men’s basketball tournament for mobile devices. According to an extremely unclear press release and FAQ released today, it appears you will have to pay $3.99 for access to the games via the March Madness application, whether you are using it on a PC or on a mobile platform, including Apple iPhones and iPads as well as Android-based devices.

Since it’s early and we haven’t had coffee yet this post might have later corrections but for right now here’s how it apparently breaks down: If you want to watch the games for free you have to go to the broadcasters websites. According to the press release you won’t be charged for the Turner-broadcast games if you can validate that you have a cable TV plan that includes the Turner Networks TBS, TNT and truTV. We are guessing that most people with a standards sports cable package will be covered, but you might need to check your plan. And right now there is no info on how that validation will happen. CBS says it will show all its broadcast games on CBSSports.com for free.

But if you want to use a mobile device to watch games online via the March Madness application, which includes a lot of bracket info and other goodies, the free lunch is over. It’ll cost you a one-time fee of $3.99, after which you will get a logon to use over any other device or platform you want. Apparently there is some messiness involved with using Android devices, and I am sure this won’t be the last post we do on the subject since the press release and FAQ look like they were also written without coffee or at least a decent proofreader.

If you want to try to avoid the $3.99 fee there is apparently some promotion coming next week involving Coke Zero where they will grant some folks free access, probably for surrendering your email address and your first-born child. Our quick prediction is that this news will cause howls of pain from the general hoops-loving public, who will start to wonder about government inquiries into the NCAA and its business practices. Maybe it’s time for coffee. And a search through the couch cushions for $3.99.

NCAA/Turner Alliance to expand its Football Presence

The alliance between NCAA and Turner Sports will be showing increased activity this Fall

With the start of college football just days away the NCAA and its partner Turner Sports have stepped up with a range of programs for fans and followers of NCAA football including a 30 minute preview show every week.

The show will be hosted by Vince Cellini and SEC college analyst Dave Archer and will cover not only the Football Bowl Subdivision but also the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), Division II and Division III, which should make for a very busy 30 minutes.

The move is just one of many as the two partners start to move forward in a joint effort to expand the NCAA’s on-line and broadcast presence. Last year the NCAA singed a pair of deals with Turner Sports, one of which included CBS as well.

The first deal called for a 14-year television, Internet and wireless rights agreement with CBS Sports and Turner Broadcasting. It gave the two the rights to present the Division I Men’s Basketball Championship beginning in 2011 and continuing through 2024 for more than $10.8 billion. This includes all the games being broadcast live, over a combination of four networks-CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV.

Included in the deal are joint marketing effort between the NCAA , CBS Sports and Turner Broadcasting. At the time this was labeled the start of a new partnership and so it was as a second deal was cut soon after.

The second deal was just between Turner and the NCAA and it called for Turner create and mange NCAA Digital and which also covers 14 years. No terms of this deal were made available. NCAA Digital will cover all 88 NCAA championships and is designed to heighten awareness and interest in them, including running NCAA.com, the primary web site for all of the championships.

Included in the Fall football push will a number of expected features including a live scoreboard, power rankings and game recaps. There will be live statistics from ongoing games and a Heisman Watch as well as the ability to call up video highlights and watch features produced for the site.

It will be interesting to see how this impacts ESPN who currently is the unchallenged king of on-line and broadcast sports. I expect that will raise the bar for much of the channels analyst, much as the Baseball Network seems to have done, in my opinion. However the 30 minute show has a tough hill to climb to surpass the very popular ESPN College Gameday program.

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