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Tuesday, March 13, 2007

CBS SportsLine Extends VIP Registration Deadline for NCAA(R) March Madness(R) on Demand

CBS SportsLine Extends VIP Registration Deadline for NCAA(R) March Madness(R) on Demand

Initial allotment of 400,000 VIP Passes 'Sells Out;' Deadline extended to Wed., 3/14 at 3:00 PM ET

Live game video of the 2007 NCAA(R) Division I Men's Basketball Championship at no charge

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla., March 13 /PRNewswire/ -- CBS SportsLine, a leading Internet sports media organization and part of CBS Interactive, announced this morning that after having taken 400,000 registrations they have extended the deadline to obtain a VIP pass for their NCAA(R) March Madness(R) on Demand (MMOD) service until Wednesday, March 14 at 3:00 PM ET. Produced in partnership with CBS Sports, CSTV and the NCAA(R), MMOD is the online player that provides live streaming video from 56 games* beginning with the first round of the NCAA(R) Division I Men's Basketball Championship as they are broadcast by CBS Sports (game action only) and is offered completely free of charge.

To have the best opportunity to view live streaming video from the NCAA(R) Division I Men's Basketball Championship, fans are urged to pre-register for MMOD to obtain VIP status. Fans that don't have VIP status will be placed in the General Admission area where they will experience longer wait times to get into the MMOD player if it is full on game day(s).

In 2006, the first year MMOD was offered free of charge, CBS SportsLine issued 265,000 VIP passes, accepting VIP registration up until Wednesday, March 15. In 2007, CBS SportsLine increased capacity and planned to issue 400,000 VIP passes, however, when registration reached that number on March 12th, the Company decided to extend the opportunity to gain VIP status until 3:00 PM ET on Wednesday, March 14.

While supplies last, fans can obtain VIP access to MMOD at CBS SportsLine.com (cbs.sportsline.com/mmod) as well as NCAAsports.com (www.ncaasports.com/mmod).

"As the current registration numbers would indicate, our users are definitely starting to recognize the significance of obtaining VIP status for MMOD," said Steve Snyder, Chief Operating Officer, CBS Interactive. "The year- over-year pre-registration growth we are seeing with MMOD is a great indication that this service is quickly becoming one of the most anticipated live events on the Internet."

NCAA(R) March Madness(R) on Demand is available at NCAAsports.com (www.ncaasports.com/mmod) as well as via MMOD links on CBS SportsLine.com and CSTV.com. In 2006, MMOD was presented free of charge for the first time since its debut in 2003, producing tremendous traffic results with over 19 million video streams and five million visits, resulting in one of the largest live Internet events ever and one many industry experts called a watershed moment in media history.

Free access to NCAA(R) March Madness(R) on Demand is made possible by presenting sponsors Courtyard by Marriott(R) and Dell as well as a host of other sponsors, including AT&T, State Farm and Kraft.

CBS SportsLine has partnered with Akamai Technologies, Inc., the leading global service provider for accelerating content and business processes online, to provide video bandwidth support for NCAA(R) March Madness(R) on Demand.

Final 2006 NCAA(R) March Madness(R) on Demand (MMOD) Traffic Numbers:

-- MMOD served over 19 million streams of live and archived game action
-- MMOD recorded over five million visits during the tournament
-- A total of 1.3 million users registered for MMOD

To review the minimum system requirements for computers running the MMOD product, please visit the following page: www.ncaasports.com/mmod/faq

* NCAA(R) March Madness(R) on Demand will offer live and on demand streaming video of 56 games of NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship on an out-of-market basis, beginning with the first round through the regional semifinals. Webcasts of games broadcast by CBS Sports in fans' local markets will be subject to blackouts. Local blackout rules will limit availability to 37 games for most people. MMOD will not show the Opening Round Game on March 13th.

NCAA(R) March Madness(R) on Demand is only available to registered users of a CBS Interactive network Web site thirteen (13) years of age or older. There is no cost to register for any of the CBS Interactive network sites. Availability of NCAA(R) March Madness(R) on Demand is subject to capacity restrictions. Certain terms and restrictions apply.

About CBS SportsLine

CBS SportsLine is at the leading edge of media companies providing Internet sports content, Fantasy sports and e-commerce. In addition to its flagship service, the company publishes the official sports site of the NCAA, ncaasports.com. CBS SportsLine is a member of the CBS family and a part of CBS Interactive. For more information about CBS SportsLine and for the latest sports news, scores and expert analysis, please visit cbs.sportsline.com.

More information about CBS and its businesses is available at www.cbscorporation.com.

About the NCAA

The NCAA is a membership-led nonprofit association of colleges and universities committed to supporting academic and athletic opportunities for more than 380,000 student-athletes at more than 1,000 member colleges and universities. Each year, more than 49,000 student-athletes compete in NCAA Championships in Division I, II and III sports. Visit www.ncaa.org for more details about the Association, its goals and members and corporate partnerships that help support programs for student-athletes. The NCAA is proud to have the following elite companies as official Corporate Champions -- AT&T/Cingular, Coca-Cola and Pontiac -- and the following elite companies as official Corporate Partners-DiGiorno, Enterprise, The Hartford, Lowe's and State Farm.

Source: CBS SportsLine

CONTACT: CBS SportsLine, Alex Riethmiller, +1-954-489-4000 ext. 7535,
ariethmiller@cbs.com; CBS Sports, LeslieAnne Wade, +1-212-975-5171,
lwade@cbs.com; CBS Corporation, Shannon Jacobs, +1-212-975-3161,
sljacobs@cbs.com; CSTV, Keith Marder, +1-212-342-8743, kmarder@cstv.com;
NCAA, Gail Dent, +1-317-917-6119, gdent@ncaa.org

Web site: http://www.cbs.sportsline.com/
http://www.ncaasports.com/mmod/faq
http://cbs.sportsline.com/mmod
http://www.ncaa.org/

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