Facebook signs a live streaming deal for March Madness

The NCAA Tournament is less than a week away and Turner Sports has been signing deals with new media as a way to reach millennials. Earlier, Turner signed a deal with YouTube to establish a March Madness channel which will have highlights after games are completed as well as live press conferences, game previews and other content.

Now Turner Sports has made an agreement with Facebook to not only an establish an official page on the social media service, but also for a live show that will stream following the NCAA Tournament Selection Show on Sunday.

According to Variety:

“Turner Sports will host a fan event at SXSW in Austin, Texas, on March 15, from its “NCAA March Madness Bracket Lounge” and will stream it live on Facebook starting at 6 p.m. CT. That will follow the unveiling of the 2015 NCAA March Madness tournament bracket on CBS.”

The Facebook show will be hosted by Turner Sports’ Matt Winer and he’ll be joined by analyst Rick Fox and Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Demaris Lewis.

Turner’s Bracket Lounge will have a huge NCAA Tournament bracket (of course), tablets featuring its programming and a photo booth.

When CBS obtained the rights to the NCAA Tournament in 1982, it probably didn’t think it would be marketing March Madness in this manner, but of course, YouTube, Facebook and new media did not exist then.

Neither Facebook nor YouTube will stream live games as their agreements do not cover live action. Once again, fans who want to watch games will go through the official March Madness app or NCAA.com and authenticate with their cable or satellite provider logins.

Facebook is increasing its presence with sports having signed a deal with the NFL to stream video highlights and now this new pact with Turner for a live show.

[Variety]