NCAA March Madness on Demand Gets an Assist from Ball State Sports Link

The upcoming NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament will have unprecedented coverage with every game being broadcast in its entirety and a new ‘March Madness Social Arena’ – powered by a newly formed partnership between Turner Sports, the NCAA and Ball State University.

“Turner Sports has selected Ball State University as its school to partner for the inaugural launch of the March Madness Social Arena,” says Michael Adamson, Turner Sports Vice President for Sports New Products & Services. “The commitment of Ball State’s Sports Link program to the integration of new media into sports coverage, along with Ball State’s approach to immersive learning, made this a natural fit for the innovative nature of the March Madness on Demand companion social experience.”

BSU Sports Link is an unique immersive learning program where students are deeply involved in sports production and electronic media. The partnership with the NCAA and Turner Sports further increases their reputation as a leader in television broadcasting education. 18 students will have the chance to work exclusively with production teams from Turner Sports and CBS Sports, interacting with digital producers, broadcast announce teams and fans.

NCAA March Madness on Demand (MMOD), is available on multiple digital platforms, including online, as an iPhone and iPod Touch app, and for the first time, as an iPad app. Among the new features, MMOD will offer improved live viewing with richer quality and larger format streams, a personalizable channel lineup feature and live stats and social companion views.

“March Madness on Demand (MMOD) is the primary online destination for fans of NCAA March Madness,” said Greg Shaheen, Interim Executive Vice President of Championships and Alliances, NCAA. “The NCAA enters a new dimension with Turner Sports and CBS Sports that provides men’s basketball fans with enhanced features that will further enrich their online and mobile viewing experience.”

Additional Features Include:

• My Channels makes it easy for fans to find games on TV. The online, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad apps list all four TV networks: TBS, TNT, truTV and CBS by default. Through My Channels, fans can plug in their zip code, select their TV provider and see their channel lineup for every game.
• The Game Center View is a true companion experience with live in-game stats. Fans can follow key stats of every team while watching games on TV. A full range of team stats include box score stats, team leaders, scoring streaks, biggest lead, and foul trouble.
• The Coke Zero NCAA March Madness Social Arena will provide a gathering point for the March Madness conversation that will be displayed as a Social commentary. Complete with live social hosts, fan comments, and TBS and CBS courtside reporters, it will capture news, trends,and sentiment of fans throughout the tournament. The March Madness Social Arena will extend onto Facebook and NCAA.com with a way for fans to LIKE teams in each round and build their social score in a innovative view of the traditional bracket, as well as comment on games, interact with the social hosts, and rate highlights.