Any word on NCAA Tournament multicast in 2008?

[BigBadD]

Just trying to decide if I need to subscribe to DTV's package, or whether it will be available on the local cable providers again this year.

[snodgrass23]

I haven't heard anything yet, but my guess is that will have it for the first round at least.

[Scott]

I would imagine that the majority of the games will be in HD this year--even the first round. The PQ is going to be brutal.

[posty-mcpost]

I would imagine that the majority of the games will be in HD this year--even the first round. The PQ is going to be brutal.

Ken H over at Avs is saying 100% HD this time around.

[Maurice Clarett]

Durring the football season the 10tv website was really helpful on finding out which NFL games were on, but for the NCAA tournament its pretty much useless. I would be really disapointed if they for some reason decide not to make all the games avaliable. I hope this is the reason they arnt saying anything about it.

[TvPat]

This was in the Dispatch this morning. The OTA feed will be used for the 4 SD games, while the HD game will be fed directly to the cable companies. It's very good news for me because I don't have to spend $69 this year. I get basic cable, so I can still watch the HD game via cable, and I can watch the others in SD over the air. If you only have DirecTV and you order the package, you'll get every HD game except the one broadcast here unless you also have cable. I'm glad they decided to do it this way. Hats off to WBNS for multicasting once again.

Channel 10 to multicast games

For the eighth year in a row, WBNS-TV (Channel 10) will use its high-definition signal to multicast games from the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.

The station will also broadcast select high-definition games via digital cable.
Time Warner, Insight and WOW! customers will be able to see the multicast games in standard definition on selected channels and the high-definition game via the same channel on which they receive HDTV.

Viewers who receive the WBNS high-definition digital signal via satellite or over the air won't get the HDTV games during multicast broadcasts.
Beginning Thursday, the first and second rounds of the tournament will be presented on four multicast feeds. The regional rounds will have both multicast and HD broadcasts for all viewers. The Final Four and NCAA Championship will be broadcast in full HDTV.

WBNS offers the multicasts and HD broadcasts free to cable systems and their viewers. Time Warner subscribers can view multicasting on Channels 88 to 91, WOW! subscribers on 111 to 113 and Insight subscribers on 147 to 150.

[BigBadD]

I emailed Mr. Willson at 10TV a day or so after I posted this originally, and he confirmed the same to me Wednesday I believe. He had said he was going to post the info here as well, so I had not checked back. As a dummy with DTV and Insight, I can now cancel my DTV sub to MMM. Before anyone asks, I still have the old dish, so I can not upgrade to get DTV HD. I have kept DTV in the past for Sunday Ticket, but now that my single days are growing few (I am getting married next month), I did not watch it much this year. So at some point this summer I will have to decide: DTV and DSL, or Insight and Roadrunner....

[aaronod]

I wonder what the QAM channel lineup will look like from Insight. I'm assuming they will run all HD on 10.1-10.4.

[aaronod]

Aha! I just did a rescan of my channels and CBS is showing up on channels 81.2-81.5 but it is in SD right now with The Early Show. Not sure if that broadcasts in HD or not, but I believe it does. Anyway, on 10.1 on my TV CBS locally is showing cartoons.

Last year I believe WBNS was using New York feeds. They made a couple of transition errors and you could read the station ID amongst the test patterns and what not.

So right now it looks like QAM = SD for Insight. I have an HD box though so I'm sure I'll be able to watch pretty much any game I want.