CBS Sports’ and Turner Sports’ exclusive live coverage of the 2011 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship across TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV combined to deliver the best overall tournament-to-date average ratings in the metered markets in 18 years (1993).
The overall tournament average-to-date, including the FIRST FOUR, in the metered markets is a 6.5/14, up +18% from a 5.5/12 for CBS Sports’ 2010 coverage according to Nielsen.
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Coverage of the regional semi-finals on TBS and CBS on Thursday, March 24 combined to deliver an overnight household rating/share of 8.6/14, up +28% from a 6.7/12 for CBS Sports’ 2010 coverage, according to Nielsen.
The 8.6/14 was the highest rating for the Thursday regional semi-finals in the metered markets since a 9.0/16 in 1993.
The first telecast window of the night combined to earn an 8.5/14, up +37% from a 6.2/11 last year.
The second window of the night delivered an 8.7/15, up +21% from a 7.2/13 last year.
CBS Sports and Turner Sports announce tip-times and match-ups for the Regional finals of the 2011 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship on Saturday, March 26 4:30-9:00 PM, on CBS. Florida takes on Butler in the first game, followed byConnecticut playing Arizona.
On Saturday, the NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Championship gets underway at 1pm.
Following the game on CBS presents THE ROAD TO THE FINAL FOUR®, hosted by Greg Gumbel along with analysts Charles Barkley, Greg Anthony, Kenny Smith and Villanova head coach Jay Wright (3:00-4:30 PM.
Saturday’s coverage begins on truTv with NCAA TIP-OFF 12:00pm with Ernie Johnson, Seth Davis and Steve Smith. INSIDE MARCH MADNESS wraps up the day’s action on truTv, following CBS Sports’ game coverage, with Gumbel, Barkley, Anthony, Smith and Wright.
Fans also will be able to access the games through NCAA March Madness on Demand. NCAA March Madness on Demand provides live streaming video of every game of the new 68-team tournament as they are broadcast by CBS Sports and Turner Sports, which started with the First Four™ from Dayton, Ohio on March 15, and concludes with the Men’s Final Four® semi-finals and national championship game from Houston, Texas on April 2 and April 4, respectively.
Following are the tip-times and announce for Friday’s regional semi-final games and Saturday’s regional final games.
FRIDAY, MARCH 25 (7:00 PM-12:00 AM, ET)
Tip (ET) Network Site Game Producer//Director//Reporter
7:15PM CBS Newark I UNC vs. Marquette Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg and Tracy Wolfson
7:27PM TBS San Antonio I Kansas vs. Richmond Marv Albert,Steve Kerr and Craig Sager
9:45PM CBS Newark II Ohio State vs. Kentucky Nantz/Kellogg//Wolfson
9:57PM TBS San Antonio II Florida State vs. VCU Albert/Kerr//Sager
SATURDAY, MARCH 26 REGIONAL FINALS (4:30-9:00 PM, ET)
Tip (ET) Network Site Game Producer//Director//Reporter
4:30PM CBS New Orleans Florida vs. Butler Gus Johnson,Len Elmore, Reggie Miller and Marty Snider
7:05PM CBS Anaheim Connecticut vs. Arizona Verne Lundquist, Bill Raftery and Lesley Visser
