The CBS Sports division of US network CBS has acquired rights to a college basketball tournament that will be staged in Belfast, Northern Ireland next month, while it has disclosed further details behind its new online sports streaming service.
Under the rights deal, cable broadcaster CBS Sports Network will televise live two games per day from the Basketball Hall of Fame Belfast Classic, which will be held at the SSE Arena on December 1-2.
The first National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball tournament to be played in Europe, the Basketball Hall of Fame Belfast Classic will include the likes of the Manhattan Jaspers, La Salle Explorers, Towson Tigers and Holy Cross Crusaders.
Eddie Rowan, Tourism NI events manager, said: “Revenue generated by visitors from the USA has doubled since 2010 and last year injected £63m (€71.2m/$82.5m) into the local economy, the CBS telecast partnership with the Basketball Hall of Fame Belfast Classic presents a unique opportunity to showcase Northern Ireland to thousands of people in the United States.
“Together with our overseas promotions partner Tourism Ireland, we will maximise promotion and advertising opportunities on the CBS Sports Network to showcase Northern Ireland as a must experience destination via a suite of engaging advertisements to capitalise on the recent growth in visitors from the United States.”
In other news, CBS has said that its planned OTT sports service will be named CBS Sports HQ and will be launched in the coming months.
CBS chief executive Leslie Moonves initially disclosed the plans as the broadcaster revealed its second quarter financial results in August. Speaking during the network’s November earnings conference call, CBS executives said the new platform will be a free advertising-supported service, bundled together with existing video news channel CBSN.
“What we see is an appetite of demand for consumers that want news and highlights of sports where we see a void in the marketplace,” CBS chief operating officer Joseph Ianniello said, according to the SportTechie website.
“They want it on their terms, on their time. So we’re going to give that to them. We think the demographic is very attractive for advertising.”
CBS is said to have been buoyed by the success of CBSN and is seeking to replicate this model for its sports portfolio.