David Levy: ‘March Madness’ Finals to Score on TBS

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The passing of the NCAA March Madness college basketball tournament finals to TBS from broadcast network CBS won’t hurt viewership for the game, according to Turner president David Levy.

The popular three-week tournament, which launches today, will see its title game slide to cable for the first time. Levy, in a video interview with Multichannel News, said he's not concerned about losing viewers for the championship game due to the move. 

CBS drew more than 28 million viewers for last April's Duke-Wisconsin championship game. TBS drew a cable college basketball record 16 million viewers for its April 4, 2015 Kentucky-Wisconsin Final Four telecast.

“It might have been a concern 10 years ago or five years ago,” Levy said. “I’m not concerned about the ratings differential between last year’s tournament and this year’s tournament.”

Watch the full Levy video here.

R. Thomas Umstead
R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.