Will March Madness Bust Records?



We rather miss Larry Kramer, the Teddy-Bearish visionary who led CBS, boldly, into the Digital Universe. Hitching the embattled --and vaunted -- CBS News division with the popularity of Sports, was, in retrospect, a brilliant move by media Dark Lord of the Sith Les Moonves. We, of course, being hard-core media purists, protested loudly and, ehr, impotently. But things have worked out smoothly all-in-all.


Last year, Kramer streamed all 56 NCAA division 1 championship games online to rave reviews. According to Staci Kramer of Paidcontent:

"The Super Bowl is history and February is well underway so time to think ahead to March Madness. CBS SportsLine, which enjoyed success with last year’s MMOD, just opened up registration for VIP passes to the year’s event. My login from last year worked, which means I would be ahead in line of people who aren’t VIPs. At one point after last year’s tourney started, there were more 150,000 people in the virtual waiting room.

"-- The MMOD player will launch March 5 with highlights from historic games. The live video starts March 15.

"-- Last year’s no-charge offering served 19-plus million live and archived streams, recorded 5-plus million visits and 1.3 registered users.

Full post here. Also, see CBS Interactive's new Mobile Division (Headed by Cyriac Roeding), rolling out on the red carpet to the Grammy's as celebrities are interviewed by the up-and-coming CBS employee Stryker, co-host with Dr. Drew of Lovelines.