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For denizens of the northern hemisphere, March brings an end to winter (though you might not know it this year if you live in the northeastern US). But for college-basketball buffs, it also brings the insanity of March Madness, when teams compete in a complex schedule to determine the year's best, and fans try to predict the outcomes of those games—and often wager accordingly—in diagrams known as brackets.
Speaking of wagers, Quicken Loans and Yahoo Sports are sponsoring a Billion Dollar Bracket Challenge , which will pay one billion dollars, insured by Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway holding company, for a perfectly predicted bracket submitted by 1:00 AM EDT on March 20. But the odds of winning have been calculated at one in more than 9 quintillion—you have a much better chance at winning the lottery. ( The New York Times Opinion Pages have an interesting analysis of this challenge .)
Naturally, those who follow college hoops will be watching the games on TV. But according to an article at re/code , many of the games will only be available on TNT, TBS, and TruTV, including the two semifinal games on April 5, so fans must have cable or satellite service with one of more of those channels.
What about streaming the games? Like the recently concluded Winter Olympics, the games of March Madness will be available online via apps for iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Kindle, and other platforms, but the games broadcast on the Turner channels can be viewed online only by authenticating—proving that you have a pay-TV subscription with those channels. The games broadcast by CBS—including the final on April 7—will be streamed for free.
According to an article at All Things D , major sports have been migrating from free broadcast channels to pay channels for some time, and that trend is likely to accelerate, especially if Aereo wins its case before the US Supreme Court . If it does, content providers such as CBS and Fox have said they will move their best programming away from broadcast TV.
In any event, the Television-Industrial Complex clearly has a vested interest in keeping eyeballs on TV screens and the advertising they deliver. Of course, ads can be delivered to streaming devices as well—in fact, those ads can be much more targeted to individual viewers than TV commercials. But business models are slow to change, and I suspect that TV commercials still generate a lot more revenue than online ads, so don't expect the trend requiring a pay-TV subscription to view big-time programming online to reverse itself any time soon.
Do you succumb to March Madness? If so, how will you be watching the games? Have you entered the Quicken Loans Billion Dollar Bracket Challenge?
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For denizens of the northern hemisphere, March brings an end to winter (though you might not know it this year if you live in the northeastern US). But for college-basketball buffs, it also brings the insanity of March Madness, when teams compete in a complex schedule to determine the year's best, and fans try to predict the outcomes of those games—and often wager accordingly—in diagrams known as brackets.
Speaking of wagers, Quicken Loans and Yahoo Sports are sponsoring a Billion Dollar Bracket Challenge , which will pay one billion dollars, insured by Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway holding company, for a perfectly predicted bracket submitted by 1:00 AM EDT on March 20. But the odds of winning have been calculated at one in more than 9 quintillion—you have a much better chance at winning the lottery. ( The New York Times Opinion Pages have an interesting analysis of this challenge .)
Naturally, those who follow college hoops will be watching the games on TV. But according to an article at re/code , many of the games will only be available on TNT, TBS, and TruTV, including the two semifinal games on April 5, so fans must have cable or satellite service with one of more of those channels.
What about streaming the games? Like the recently concluded Winter Olympics, the games of March Madness will be available online via apps for iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Kindle, and other platforms, but the games broadcast on the Turner channels can be viewed online only by authenticating—proving that you have a pay-TV subscription with those channels. The games broadcast by CBS—including the final on April 7—will be streamed for free.
According to an article at All Things D , major sports have been migrating from free broadcast channels to pay channels for some time, and that trend is likely to accelerate, especially if Aereo wins its case before the US Supreme Court . If it does, content providers such as CBS and Fox have said they will move their best programming away from broadcast TV.
In any event, the Television-Industrial Complex clearly has a vested interest in keeping eyeballs on TV screens and the advertising they deliver. Of course, ads can be delivered to streaming devices as well—in fact, those ads can be much more targeted to individual viewers than TV commercials. But business models are slow to change, and I suspect that TV commercials still generate a lot more revenue than online ads, so don't expect the trend requiring a pay-TV subscription to view big-time programming online to reverse itself any time soon.
Do you succumb to March Madness? If so, how will you be watching the games? Have you entered the Quicken Loans Billion Dollar Bracket Challenge?
Like AVS Forum on Facebook
Follow AVS Forum on Twitter
+1 AVS Forum on Google+
