SiriusXM's Comprehensive Coverage of the NCAA Basketball Tournament
SiriusXM provides extensive, nationwide coverage of the NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments, delivering comprehensive coverage of March Madness. SiriusXM offers listeners comprehensive coverage of NCAA® March Madness®, the most exciting month on the calendar for college basketball fans.
Extensive Game Broadcasts
Listeners can access live broadcasts of all men’s tournament games and every women’s matchup from the Sweet 16 through the National Championship, plus select earlier round games. Game broadcasts will be available in SiriusXM-enabled vehicles and on the SiriusXM app.
The men’s tournament begins with the First Four® on March 18-19 and continues through the Men’s Final Four® semifinal and National Championship game on April 5 and 7 in San Antonio, TX. The NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship runs from the First Four matchups on March 19-20 through the Women’s Final Four semifinal and National Championship game, to be played April 3 and 6 in Tampa, FL. The men’s tournament kicks off with the First Four on March 18 and 19 and continues through the Final Four and National Championship on April 5 and 7 in San Antonio.
Expert Analysis and Commentary
Beyond the action on the court, fans will also get the most in-depth expert analysis leading up to and throughout the tournament on SiriusXM’s multiple sports talk channels, which offer daily expert analysis from former players, coaches and other college sports insiders. Beyond live game action, SiriusXM’s sports talk channels will provide in-depth analysis throughout the tournament, featuring expert commentary from former players, coaches, and insiders.
Hall of Famer and five-time national champion former head coach of the Duke Blue Devils Mike Krzyzewski will host his SiriusXM show, “Basketball and Beyond with Coach K,” twice a week during the tournament run on the SiriusXM College Sports Radio channel and on the SiriusXM app. Legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski will host Basketball and Beyond with Coach K twice a week throughout March Madness, offering his insight on the competition and breaking down performances as teams progress.
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Special Programming and On-Location Coverage
SiriusXM College Sports Radio (SiriusXM channel 84) will air Selection Sunday specials from 5 - 11 pm ET. The official NCAA Tournament Selection Show produced by Westwood One will air on Sirius ch. 106, XM ch. 201 and on the SiriusXM app from 6 - 9 pm ET.
In addition to the games, SiriusXM will also have live programming originating from both the Men’s and Women’s Final Four cities, with pregame shows on location in San Antonio and Tampa, as well as live coverage of the Naismith Awards Brunch, where the Women’s and Men’s Player of the Year, Coach of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year awards are announced. Nicole Auerbach will be on location for SiriusXM’s Women’s Final Four coverage in Tampa.
SiriusXM's Sports Radio Evolution
Before XMSN, channel 143 was a complete simulcast of Sporting News Radio, a United States-based national sports radio network, of which XM had an exclusivity contract with. It was complemented on XM by its competitors, the long running ESPN Radio (channel 140), controlled by Hearst Corporation and Disney, and the recently formed Fox Sports Radio (channel 142), controlled by Premiere Radio Networks. The three sports networks remained in co-existence on the XM platform for several years.
In 2005, the exclusivity contract with XM expired, and the satrad company renewed it under non-exclusivity, which allows XM competitor Sirius Satellite Radio to pick up the network as well. With the arrival of the PGA Tour Network, channel 143 ended up being pre-empted on the weekends due to bandwidth considerations. It was assumed that the channel was one of the platform's lower performers because of this, as no other third party sports networks on XM were being pre-empted.
On August 28, 2006, Sporting News Radio became XM Sports Nation, and featured several new shows exclusive to XM. XM had already used the XM Sports Nation name to brand their sportscasts, often ending the games with a soundbyte saying "This has been a presentation of XM Sports Nation". New programs included XMSN This Morning, Power Shift, Rotowire Fantasy Football Hour, and College Football Coast to Coast. XMSN also acted as a replay channel for select NASCAR Radio shows, and became the new home of XM Live's weekly show, 60/20 Sports. To accommodate these shows, the Sporting News Radio lineup was carved up selectively. Some shows survived the transition, while others were truncated, or bounced from the platform completely.
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On January 1, 2007, XMSN moved to XM 144 from XM 143. Programming from XM's NASCAR Radio channel was merged into XM Sports Nation, including Claire B. Lang's afternoon show, both Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s live half-hour shows, and Joe Castello and Thommy Noodlez remained on Powershift from 8 to 10 pm ET. XMSN also added the Andretti-Green Racing Hour in March 2007, as part of expanded Indy Racing League coverage. More content from Sporting News Radio was sacrificed to make these changes, which included more replays of XMSN originals. In addition, XMSN began airing Tony Kornheiser's radio show, which broadcasts from WTWP, on March 5, 2007. In August 2007, XMSN added Barry Switzer as a part of the channel's expanded college sports coverage.
SiriusXM College Sports Radio and ESPNU Radio
Sirius XM College Sports Nation launched in 2010 and talks college sports year round.
On August 31, 2017, as part of a renewal of ESPN's programming agreements with Sirius XM, College Sports Nation was re-launched as ESPNU Radio-a radio counterpart to the ESPNU television service.
Current College Sports Programming
SiriusXM offers a variety of college sports programming, including:
- SiriusXM College Draft Central: Hear from SiriusXM College's team of experts breaking down the NFL Draft.
- This Week in College Baseball: Mike Ferrin and Mike Rooney recap and preview the top college baseball matchups around the country. Hear from players and coaches around the diamond.
- Dusty and Danny in the Morning: Dusty Dvoracek and Danny Kanell wake you up each weekday morning with an energetic look at the world of college sports. They're talking college football, basketball, baseball, softball, and more!
- Full Ride: Rick Neuheisel & Chris Childers bring a "frat house" level of energy & excitement to your radio every weekday.
SiriusXM: A Leader in Audio Entertainment
SiriusXM is the leading audio entertainment company in North America with a portfolio of audio businesses including its flagship subscription entertainment service SiriusXM; the ad-supported and premium music streaming services of Pandora; an expansive podcast network; and a suite of business and advertising solutions. Reaching a combined monthly audience of approximately 160 million listeners, SiriusXM offers a broad range of content for listeners everywhere they tune in with a diverse mix of live, on-demand, and curated programming across music, talk, news, and sports.
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