N.C.A.A. Tournament Final Four Is Moving to TBS

Men’s Final Four Is Moving to TBS

TBS will start televising the Final Four of the N.C.A.A. men’s basketball tournament in 2014 and ’15, advancing the schedule contemplated in its 14-year, $10.8-billion contract with CBS that went into effect three years ago. In those years, CBS will continue to carry the championship game.

The two networks will also start splitting the Round of 8 games in 2014, rather than in ’16.

The changes are a result of an option triggered in the companies’ contract which would have given TBS the Final Four weekend in 2014, with those three games moving back to CBS in 2016.

But Sean McManus, the chairman of CBS Sports, said, “When we started discussing this three months ago, we wanted a scenario that was best for CBS and Turner.” But, he said, neither side wanted to be shut out on Final Four weekend in 2014 or ’15, so they rewrote the language of the option to allow for TBS to have the Final Four both years and for CBS to carry the championship game.

“We came up with a compromise that protects CBS’s interests and Turner’s interests,” McManus said.

David Levy, the president of Turner Sports, said, “From a partnership standpoint, this works for viewers and for our relationship with CBS.”

The TBS-CBS deal allowed all of the tournament’s games to be carried nationally with broadcasts spread out on CBS and the Turner-owned TBS, TNT and truTV networks. The majority of the games are on the Turner channels.