FT. LAUDERDALE, FL, March 16, 2006 - CBS SportsLine, a leading Internet sports media organization and part of CBS Digital Media, in partnership with CBS Sports, CSTV and the NCAA® this afternoon announced that NCAA® March Madness™ on Demand, the online video player that provides streaming live video of the first 56 games of the 2006 NCAA® Division I Men's Basketball Championship set an Internet record for a scheduled live entertainment or sports event with over 268,000 simultaneous streams. In total, NCAA® March Madness™ on Demand has already surpassed 1.2 million video streams served.
"What we've done is complement the biggest college sports event of the year with the largest known simultaneous live viewing audience in the history of the Internet for an event of this kind," said Larry Kramer, President of CBS Digital Media. "While television will always be the centerpiece of the March Madness experience, the numbers and positive feedback we have seen from our users today are extremely encouraging."
NCAA® March Madness™ on Demand (
MMOD) is available at NCAASports.com (
www.ncaasports.com/mmod) and is presented free of charge for the first time since its debut in 2003. Free access to NCAA® March Madness™ on Demand is made possible by presenting sponsors Courtyard by Marriott and Dell as well as a host of other sponsors including Lowe's, Pontiac and State Farm.
CBS SportsLine has partnered with MLB Advanced Media for services related to the live and on demand delivery of games via the Internet. CBS SportsLine has partnered with Akamai Technologies and Limelight Networks to provide video bandwidth support for this event.
About CBS SportsLine
CBS SportsLine is at the leading edge of media companies providing Internet sports content, Fantasy sports and e-commerce. In addition to its flagship service, the company publishes the official Web sites of the
NFL,
PGA TOUR and
NCAA Sports. CBS SportsLine is a member of the CBS family and a part of CBS Digital Media. For more information about CBS SportsLine.com and for the latest sports news, scores and expert analysis, please visit
cbs.sportsline.com.
More information about CBS and its businesses is available at
www.cbscorporation.com.
