CBS And Turner Expand Pact For NCAA Tournament

The NCAA tournament is staying put…for a long (long) time to come. Just over a week after Villanova was crowned this year's winner of March Madness, the network that aired the game and its partner have extended their deal for broadcast rights to the tournament through 2032. Turner Networks

and CBS

, which submitted a joint bid for the TV license during that last bidding period, just agreed to an $8.8 billion extension to stay the exclusive home of the heavily-watched games. The new deal also includes rights to all media platforms, including online/streaming, which has been credited with boosting the popularity of the annual event. The dual-network alliance allows for every game in the tournament to be televised and streamed over either CBS, TBS, TNT or truTV. In addition the extra networks allow each of the final four teams to have their own dedicated play-by-play team which proved to be a highlight with audiences. This year's title game was the first that aired exclusively on cable. The championship match will alternate between Turner and CBS under the partnership agreement.