Verizon FiOS has reached an affiliate agreement with Turner Broadcasting System to launch TruTV HD.
The rollout comes in time for FiOS customers to watch TruTV coverage of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball tournament, which tips off on the network with "First Four" coverage from Dayton, Ohio on March 15 and 16.
TruTV programming can be found on FiOS TV channels 683 in high-definition and 183 in the standard-definition format. Financial eal terms were not disclosed.
TruTV HD is currently available to FiOS TV customers in Texas, Florida, California, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, downstate New York and the Philadelphia area. It will be accessible by all FiOS TV customers by Wednesday. All told, FiOS offers more than 145 HD channels.
TruTV, which typically offers reality fare such as Hardcore Pawn and Operation Repo, will air 13 games during the 2011 men's basketball tourney as part of Turner and CBS Sports's 14-year, $10.8 billion contract with the NCAA. For the first time in the tourney's 73-year history, all of the games will air in their own national window.
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