A reminder for hoops fans: Final Four is broadcast "in the cloud" this weekend

ncaa march madness on demandJust in case you get stuck working this weekend, or you’re at the office late Monday night, don’t despair. For the first time ever, CBS College Sports Network and the NCAA will broadcast the Final Four over the Internet — also the first time that a major U.S. sporting event championship has been shown live online.

The Final Four will be available via the NCAA March Madness on Demand video player.

CBS and the NCAA have made each stage of the tournament available online with great success. From the First Round through the Elite 8, which sets up the Final Four, there have been 4.33 million total unique visitors to the NCAA March Madness on Demand video player, a 147 percent increase over 2007. (tvover.net)

Not only that, but CBS and the NCAA note that 4.5 million hours of live streaming of video and audio have been consumed in the first eight days of the tournament, surpassing the entire 2007 total.

Since NCAA March Madness on Demand began in 2003, the first 56 games have been available online, but the Final Four has not. By the time that one team walks off the court with the championship — let’s hope it’s UCLA — all 63 games of the tournament will have been broadcast over-the-air and “in the cloud”.

last100 is edited by Steve O'Hear. Aside from founding last100, Steve is co-founder and CEO of Beepl and a freelance journalist who has written for numerous publications, including TechCrunch, The Guardian, ZDNet, ReadWriteWeb and Macworld, and also wrote and directed the Silicon Valley documentary, In Search of the Valley. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.

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