Men's college basketball on television

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Men's College basketball on television includes the broadcasting of college basketball games, as well as pre- and post-game reports, analysis, and human-interest stories. Within the United States, the college version of basketball annually garners high television ratings.

Televising the games allows alumni to follow their alma mater's team, as well as competing schools and top-ranked schools nationally. Not all games are televised. Coverage is dependent on negotiations between the broadcaster and the college football conference or team. In general, major programs will be televised more often than smaller programs. The televised games may change from year-to-year depending on which teams are having a strong season, although some traditional rivalry games are broadcast each year. Major match-ups between top-ranked teams or major rivals are often broadcast nationally. Some games are traditionally associated with a specific event or holiday, and viewing the game itself can become a holiday tradition for fans.

1 History
- 1.1 Decentralization
2 Broadcast rights
3 Postseason
- 3.1 NCAA Tournament
- 3.2 NIT
4 Announcers
- 4.1 Current lineup (for 2008)
- 4.2 Famous calls or catchphrases
5 References
6 See also

[edit] History

The NCAA believed that broadcasting one game a week would prevent further controversy while limiting any decrease in attendance. However, the Big Ten Conference was unhappy with the arrangement, and it pressured the NCAA to allow regional telecasts as well. Finally, in 1955 the NCAA revised its plan, keeping eight national games while permitting regional telecasts during five specified weeks of the season. This was essentially the television plan that stayed in place until the University of Oklahoma and the University of Georgia filed suit against the NCAA in 1981, alleging antitrust violations.

[edit] Decentralization

On June 27, 1984, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in NCAA v. Board of Regents of University of Oklahoma that the NCAA's television plan violated the Sherman Antitrust Act. As a result, individual schools and athletic conferences were freed to negotiate contracts on their own behalf. Together with the growth of cable television, this ruling resulted in the explosion of broadcast options currently available.

One of the most significant side-effects of the changes in television policy since 1984 has been the sharp decrease in independent schools and realignment of athletic conferences, as schools sought to pool and increase their bargaining power.

Notably, each college playing a football game is allowed to run a commercial for their school during the halftime break, as is the teams' conference(s).

[edit] Broadcast rights

[edit] Networks

In addition, some regional syndicators broadcast games on over the air television. Most notably Raycom Sports, and ESPN Plus syndicate their games to broadcast stations.

Raycom in the early 1990s paid ABC $1.8 million for six weeks of network airtime of 26 regional games. The format allowed Raycom to control the games and sell the advertising.^[1]

[edit] Cable stations

Regional cable networks have long devoted coverage to one or two conferences. The Pac-10 and Big 12 have had deals with Fox Sports Net since 1996, which airs games on its regional family of networks.

The Mountain West Conference has entered into an arrangement with CBS College Sports Network to develop a new regional network called "the Mountain" or "mtn" that is devoted to broadcasting the league's games.^[2] The Big Ten also has a similar regional network, with the Big Ten Network having made its debut in August 2007.

[edit] ESPN

ESPN has been airing regular season games since 1980, ESPN2 since 1993, ESPNU since 2005, and to a lesser extent ESPN Classic will show fewer games per season.

College basketball has been a staple for nearly the whole history of ESPN. Scotty Connal, then-vice president of the all-sports network in Bristol, Conn., offered Dick Vitale a position, shortly after being fired from the Detroit Pistons. The coverage of college basketball and the early rounds of the NCAA Tournament increased both college basketball and ESPN's credibility ^[3].