War could replace 'March Madness'
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Television network CBS said on Tuesday the U.S. college basketball championship tournament could find itself in unfamiliar territory alongside reruns of "Star Trek" and "The Cosby Show" in the event of war with Iraq -- or even on rival network ESPN.
If CBS, owned by Viacom Inc. , were forced to run wall-to-wall news coverage of the war, the network might have to move some or all of the 63 "March Madness" NCAA tournament games to sister Viacom cable channels like TNN and TV Land.
The company has also talked about shifting games to Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN network, an ESPN spokesman said on Tuesday.
"We have had talks. Our reason was to potentially serve basketball fans and the NCAA [National Collegiate Athletic Association] in what are obviously difficult circumstances," said ESPN's Josh Krulewitz. He would not give details of the talks, such as how many tournament games were under discussion.
Viacom said it would not run games on music-oriented cable networks MTV or VH1, which it also owns, because of concerns about airing beer ads and other adult-focused commercials in front of the younger audiences at those networks.
The NCAA men's basketball tournament is one of the most popular U.S. sporting events, known for upsets and nail-biting finishes. The tourney is scheduled to begin on March 14 and continue through the end of the month.
Shifting games from network television to niche cable channels would be a complicated undertaking. CBS has already sold 95 percent of its commercial time for the tournament, and would likely have to compensate advertisers if the games were moved to cable, where ratings would likely be lower.
In addition, ESPN has already committed to televising the increasingly popular -- though lower rated -- women's college basketball tournament, which runs concurrently with the men's tournament.
CBS would likely give advertisers "make-goods," or future commercial time, if ratings took a hit, a spokeswoman said.
A cable-only tournament would also be a blow to soft drink company Coca-Cola Co. , which signed a $500 million, 11-year endorsement contract with CBS and the NCAA last week. CBS is in the first year of an 11-year, $6 billion deal with the NCAA.
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