March 19, 2003

NEW YORK (AP) – CBS has reached an agreement to move NCAA tournament gamesto cable networks if it goes to full-time news coverage of a war with Iraq.

CBS would not detail where the games would be moving, but networkspokeswoman LeslieAnne Wade said viewers will be informed if contingency plansare needed.

“They will not be on their own,” Wade said Wednesday.

ESPN said it would be ready to air all of the first-round games on the mainnetwork or ESPN2. ESPN has not shown the NCAA tournament since 1990.

“We have reached an agreement with CBS to televise NCAA games they mayshift due to potential war coverage,” ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz said.”Should it be necessary, we could accommodate all windows on Thursday andFriday and some over the weekend.”

On Saturday and Sunday, CBS would shift some games to a cable network ownedby parent company, Viacom – possibly TNN, TV Land, Nickelodeon, VH1 or MTV.

ESPN is committed to the NCAA women’s tournament and an LPGA tournament onSaturday and must also make room for ABC’s NHL coverage if a war breaks out.ABC and ESPN are both owned by The Walt Disney Co.

ESPN would probably be able to show games in three of the four windows onSaturday, with two games beginning at about 3:20 p.m. EST shifting to a Viacomcable network.

On Sunday, ESPN has more women’s basketball and the LPGA tournament and alsomust make room for ABC’s coverage of the IRL and NBA. ESPN would probably onlybe able to show a game in the 5 p.m. window, with the first two windows goingto a Viacom network.

Since the cable networks that would show the games are only available inabout 80 percent of homes, CBS would likely have to compensate advertisers forthe lower ratings.

CBS is in the first year of a $6 billion, 11-year deal with the NCAA.