More proof college hoops is ESPN's game...

[KosherHorn]

... at least during early-season tournament time. Even the old Rainbow Classic has had to change things up:

The Link

Not that this is a surprise. I guess I stay amazed how much in control ESPN is over scheduling and exposure in not just college hoops but other college sports. Is there another television station with so little true competition?

 

[Bob in Houston]

ESPN owns, I believe, about a half-dozen bowl games.

They don't have competition in the college game because so many of the regional Fox networks have the local pro teams locked up.

 

[GemStateJim]

I sure enjoyed TBS' Texas football broadcasts. We were unbeaten on Ted Turner TV!

 

[HuskerNKingwood]

if CBS ever stops carrying March Madness, then I know all the sanctity in sports TV will be gone.

I grew up with the NBA on NBC, Monday Night Football and college football on ABC, etc.

 

[hank_gathers]

Well, there are us even older-timers who wish the televising of the tournament would go back to the way it was in the 80's, when ESPN showed all of the early-round games around-the-clock. ESPN would show a couple of games in prime-time, then CBS would show a game at 11:30pm or something like that, and then ESPN would replay every single game overnight and into the next day throughout the weekend and into the next week. It was a sad day when CBS took over the whole thing, although of course MegaMarchMadness now mitigates that somewhat.

 

[KosherHorn]

I remember some time in the 80s when the local PBS station in Houston was the one to pick up the telecast of UH's first round NCAA game with Kansas. That tells you how far March Madness has come since then. Oh, and the Cougars lost, of course, as they always did in the first round under Pat Foster.