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SoCalHoops College News

Streaming Video? Audio? CBS Buys
Rights To NCAA Internet--(Nov. 27, 1999)

We obviously missed the news last week, because we were busy working on high school previews and profiles, but unless you're a CBS Sportsline subscriber by the year 2003, forget seeing any streaming videos of coaches or players on the internet. Why? Because CBS and the NCAA have entered into an exclusive (read, "to the exclusion of all others") deal, an 11 year $6 billion (that's right "billion") dollar deal which will give the CBS network the sole and exclusive right to all NCAA internet content.

What is this going to mean for most of us? How will FansOnly continue to maintain it's official college websites without infringing on CBS' exclusivity deal? How will Jim Downs survive, and will he refund subscriptions after the deal takes place in 2003? (Sorry Jim, just kidding--apparently the deal may only apply to the NCAA tourney, in which case, we don't have to worry about UCLA getting there with the present group of players. . . not much chance of that with Arizona as good as it is right now). But seriously, this deal represents a sea change, and the ramifications won't be known for years to come.

Here's what Bob Keisser said yesterday about it in the Long Beach Press-Telegram:

Coming to a website near you:

Real-time audio of every game in the NCAA tournament. Streaming video of press conferences. Real-time video highlights. Exclusive postgame chat rooms with players. And stats, stats, and more stats.

And considering the pace of the Internet's growth, these could be merely conservative predictions of what the deal between CBS and the NCAA holds for fans. Last week's massive 11 year, $6 billion agreement between the network and the college association shook up the TV world and not just because CBS agreed to pay the NCAA more annually than it is currently paying the NFL. The deal, which begins in 2003 also includes Internet rights.

The Internet is still a New Media work in progress. But in the last decade, it has gone from a text -based educational tool to chat rooms to a gigantic retail and informational industry that will only get larger. Internet-related companies are driving the latest bull market on Wall Street.

CBS holds a 20 percent stake in SportsLine Inc., the website that has been dueling with ESPN's for sports supremacy on the net. By adding net rights to its TV rights deal, CBS made a bold move into the future, whatever shape it may take.

"The deal makes sense, especially when you include Internet rights," CBS Sports President Sean McManus said this week. "No one understands what the internet means to TV right now. But when it's developed, we wanted the opportunity to take advantage of it. The line between the Internet and television has become thinner and thinner. Webcasting is growing, so the critical element is who controls those rights. If you don't, there will be cannibalization."

And no one in TV wants to get eaten. The over-the-air networks have already lost weight in the Nielsen ratings thanks to cable and the net stealing away viewers. The net's fantastic growth poses a real threat to the way people get their information.

The downloading of music already has that industry in a panic. If the latest tunes from Bare Naked Ladies can be found and downloaded at a web site, who's going to bother buying CD's?

That's why CBS' pre-emptive move was so savvy. It will have proprietary control over all NCAA video and audio, and all of the branding, promotional and exclusivity benefits that creates.

At least in regards to the NCAA tourney, CBS will not have to worry about a competing net site offering the kind of bells and whistles that could turn a potential viewer from his tube to his computer.

"I believe the way people watch TV 10 years from now will fundamentally be the same as it is today," said McManus. "The way fans view football and basketball won't be all that different. but the Internet will be an important adjunct to what people see. It can provide a tremendous amount of supplementary programming.

That would include the aforementioned audio, video, chats and stats. But there truly is no ceiling for the Internet. Who's to say the Internet won't be able to deliver high-definition video that turns your keypad into a TV studio, that allows you to watch a live game from whatever camera angle you like or call up a replay?

Ninety percent of the population might prefer a network telecast. But the networks can't afford losing the 10 percent gravitating to the Internet.

That alone explains CBS' decision and will explain why most TV rights deals in the future will likely deal with Internet rights. . . .

Disney, which wanted the tournament for ABC and ESPN and owns the ESPN website, didn't include the net in its bid. It won't make the same mistake again.

"I think each league will look at their own situation and analyze it separately," said McManus. "Some are farther along than others in regards to the net an digital television. Everyone realizes that the best way to maximize revenue is to combine the net, marketing, merchandise and TV under one umbrella.

That's called branding, and good business. But exclusivity may become an even bigger issue.

The NFL limits how much video other broadcast networks can use of their product on Sundays, and the networks owning Olympic TV rights has historically been stingy in what it allows anyone else to show.

CBS theoretically will have control over what other Internet sites can doe with the tournament. It might not be able to keep ESPN's sites from covering the tourney, but it could limit its video and audio.

"We haven't decided what kind of exclusivity to carve out," McManus said, "but it could be similar to broadcast TV with respect to how much video a service can use, and how much is proprietary. We don't want to be restrictive, but we paid for exclusivity."

It could wind up being the best money CBS has ever spent.

Ok, so hold on to your mice, and bolt down your monitors, because the suits are coming to a website near you. And if you think the "exclusivity" deals are just beginning, you ain't seen nothing yet. The implications for everyone are huge. We can't wait to see CBS try to shut down every single website on the net which potentially (or actually) is deemed by the network to be an infringer. . . .It just goes to show that the people who believe the Internet is just another extension of the television, don't understand the nature of the medium. Not at all.

We can see it now. Like the "Critical Mass" rallies, those "impromptu" bike vs. car protests which have seen thousands and thousands of cyclists taking over large metropolitan centers during rush hour, so many and so mobile that they can't all be controlled or arrested for violating the law, we can envision everyone with access to a website downloading the video and audio feed of the 2003 NCAA tournament and rebroadcasting it, simultaneously on a billion different websites. . . . Now that would make for quite an infringement suit by the suits . . . And it would be a bonanza for at least one profession (spoken like a true lawyer) . . . Ah, yes. . . so much for exclusivity. Really, we can't wait. . . .