CBS, TURNER IN 14-YEAR PACT FOR “MARCH MADNESS”

In an extraordinary 14-year deal, CBS and Time Warner’s Turner Broadcasting have agreed to pay at least $10.8 billion to carry the N.C.A.A. men’s basketball tournament — “March Madness.” The partnership gives each entity the right to carry the regional finals, the Final Four and the championship game, CBS through 2015, Turner from 2016 to 2024. ESPN dropped out of the bidding when it reached stratospheric heights. Under the partnership, CBS and Turner will presumably split the bill. “In this agreement, we have created a new strategic partnership that not only makes this prestigious property an ongoing core asset in our stable of major television events, but a profitable one as well,” CBS News and Sports President Sean McManus said in a statement. No single Turner network will be carrying the contests. Instead, they will be divided among Turner’s TBS, TNT, and TruTV channels. David Levy, president of Turner Sports, said, “We are well positioned to monetize our investment in N.C.A.A. programming across three nationally distributed networks.”