Some Baltimore area viewers who don’t have cable might be wondering why the telecast of the NCAA matchup between UMBC and Kansas State is going to to be on truTV Sunday night instead of CBS-owned WJZ.
After all, Jim Nantz, the play by play announcer scheduled to do the game, is a longtime CBS Sports announcer, isn’t he?
Nantz is, and the NCAA tournament telecasts carry a lot of CBS branding.
But for the last eight years, they have been co-presented by CBS Sports and Turner Sports. And since that partnership started in 2011, every one of the tournament games has been televised nationally on CBS, TBS, TNT or truTV with no regionalization, a CBS Sports spokeswoman said Saturday night.
[ Watch the game via live stream here ]
Thus, everyone in the nation who has cable will be able to see UMBC and Kansas State Sunday night on truTV after the conclusion of the 5:15 p.m. Texas A&M v. North Carolina game in Charlotte. But there will be no regionalized telecast on any CBS station.
“We’re all incredibly excited for UMBC here at the station, and we were out there today doing stories, but this is totally a network deal,” K.C. Robertson, a spokesman for WJZ said Saturday night. “It is not something we have any control over.”
For Comcast viewers in Baltimore city truTv is on Channel 55. (HD is 841.)
The crew scheduled to broadcast the game is the top team of Nantz, Bill Raftery, Grant Hill and Tracy Wolfson.