IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ CAREFULLY AND REPLY USING THE BUTTONS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS FORM
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IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ CAREFULLY AND REPLY USING THE BUTTONS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS FORM
AUDIO POLICY |
Note: A separate form will need to be completed for each round or day of coverage. These forms may be filled in advance for games that may or may not take place depending on your school's advancement in the Championships.
1. A rights fee will be charged for commercial broadcasts and rebroadcasts of any NCAA championship round/game(s). The rights fee will be waived for non-commercial, university funded, student-run radio stations.
2. No exclusive rights shall be granted, except in those instances when a competing institution shall request such rights for a station or network that contracted for exclusive coverage of the institution's regular-season games. Such exclusive rights then shall be restricted to the markets where exclusivity existed during the regular season games. In the instance that two universities or colleges have radio stations in the same market, then exclusive rights shall not be granted in that market.
3. The university or college station of each competing institution, or the station designated by that institution as its official station, shall be guaranteed broadcast space. Applications from other stations will be referred to the on-site media coordinator/host sports information director and space will be made available as the facilities permit. The NCAA reserves the right to deny radio stations the right to broadcast NCAA championship events.
4. All stations broadcasting any round/game of an NCAA championship shall be required to submit a completed audio agreement to Mike Dodson/Cindy Johnson at Learfield. If the broadcast is being distributed via the Internet or mobile devices, you must submit the direct link to the audio player. The audio agreement must be fully completed and submitted Online in advance of the round/game that will be broadcast. Please note, if the form is not fully completed, rights will not be granted. The form shall be submitted for each round/game that a station wishes to broadcast.
Learfield will authorize the form and submit it to the on-site media coordinator/host sports information director. Facilities may not be reserved until the media coordinator/host sports information director has received an authorized audio agreement from Learfield. On-site personnel from the radio station also should retain a copy of the audio agreement for reference. This agreement is the .pdf file that will be automatically generated upon completion of the online form.
5. Westwood One may elect not to sublicense to a radio station the right to produce and distribute a local audio broadcast, unless such radio station broadcasts a minimum of fifty percent (50%) of the regular season games (excluding conference tournament games) played by the NCAA institution of such sport for which the sublicense is sought. However, if such prospective sublicensee’s FCC license is within the MSA (as defined by Arbitron) of the participating NCAA institution’s main campus, Westwood One shall sublicense the right to produce and distribute a local audio broadcast to such sublicensee, even if such number is less than fifty percent (50%). If such sublicense is granted, sublicensee shall not further sublicense or distribute such broadcasts beyond the MSA.
6. All originating stations will be invoiced for rights fees associated with these broadcasts by Learfield. A fee will be charged for each affiliate station of the network as well. Stations will be charged for each game of the championship in which it broadcasts.
If the originating station or any station within the network intends to stream the broadcast over the Internet via their station's Web site or any other third-party Web site, or provides such audio for distribution by any mobile application, then an additional fee will be charged.
Note: The station streaming the broadcast is required to supply a link back to the official NCAA Championships Web site, NCAA.com. The per game radio, per game Internet and per game mobile rights fees are as follows:
A. Division I championships (excluding men's and women's basketball, men’s NIT, women’s BIT and baseball)
Originating commercial station - $150.00
All affiliates joining a network - $75.00 (per station)
Non-commercial station feeding a commercial station - $150.00
Additional Streaming Fee (desktop and mobile) - $100.00
Commercial Streaming-Only fee - $150.00
B. *Division I Men's Basketball Championship
Originating commercial station - $1,200.00
All affiliates joining a network - $250.00 (per station)
Non-commercial station that feeds a commercial station - $750.00
All alternate audio platforms for the Division I Men's Basketball Championship are handled exclusively by Westwood One. No other radio entity is allowed to stream audio online or on mobile apps, nor provide their audio to satellite radio for this particular NCAA Championship.
C. *Division I Women's Basketball Championship
Originating commercial station - $250.00
All affiliates joining a network - $125.00 (per station)
Non-Commercial originating station that feeds a commercial station - $200.00
Additional Streaming Fee (desktop and mobile) - $175.00
Commercial Streaming-Only Fee (desktop and mobile) - $250.00
D. *Men's NIT Originating commercial station - $450.00
All affiliates joining a network - $200.00 (per station)
Non-Commercial originating station that feeds a commercial station - $250.00
Additional Streaming Fee (desktop and mobile) - $300.00
Commercial Streaming-Only fee - $450.00
E. *Women’s BIT Originating commercial station - $100.00
All affiliates joining a network - $75.00 (per station)
Non-Commercial originating station that feeds a commercial station - $100.00
Additional Streaming Fee (desktop and mobile) - $75.00
Commercial Streaming-Only fee - $100.00
F. *Division I Baseball Championship
Originating commercial station - $200.00
All affiliates joining a network - $125.00 (per station)
Non-Commercial originating station that feeds a commercial station - $175.00
Additional Streaming Fee (desktop and mobile) - $150.00
Commercial Streaming-Only Fee (desktop and mobile) - $250.00
**This information should be forwarded to your radio rights holder. Originating university networks will receive a different NCAA Audio Agreement for the Division I Men's and Women's Basketball Championships. Contact Learfield directly at the contact information for Mike Dodson and Cindy Johnson listed above.
G. Division II and III championships
Originating commercial station - $50.00
All affiliates joining a network - $30.00 (per station)
Additional Streaming Fee (desktop and mobile) - $50.00
Commercial Streaming-Only Fee (desktop and mobile) - $60.00
Note: A rights fee will be waived for any non-commercial, university funded, student-run radio station.
The rights fee will be waived for Internet-only broadcast as long as there are no commercials, sponsored elements or underwriting spots within the broadcast. In addition, there cannot be any advertising on the audio player itself. Any of the aforementioned circumstances will result in a rights fee for an Internet-only broadcast.
At the conclusion of each championship Learfield will invoice rights fees, except for the Men’s NIT Post-season Tournament and Division I Men's and Women's Basketball Championships. All rights fees will be collected in advance for these tournaments/championships.
7. A participating or host institution shall make no additional charge or receive any additional consideration for the rights accorded hereunder to the originating station(s) or network.
8. Association policy governing acceptable advertisers and advertising copy for broadcasts of NCAA championships prohibits the following: alcoholic beverages (except for malt beverages, beer and wine as listed hereafter), cigarettes and other tobacco products, professional sports organizations or personnel (except as specified hereafter); athletics recruiting services, and organizations or individuals promoting gambling. Bona fide political advertisements are acceptable on broadcasts of NCAA championships.
Advertising of malt beverages, beer and wine shall not exceed more than 60 seconds per hour of any broadcast.
Advertisements featuring active professional athletes from the sport for which an NCAA broadcast is being produced shall be prohibited. Advertisements featuring active professional athletes in other sports may not exceed more than 30 seconds per hour of any broadcast. Parties representing the NCAA in advertising sales or involved in advertising sales for NCAA broadcasts shall take every reasonable step to discourage the use by advertisers of active professional athletes from sports regulated by the NCAA, informing the advertisers of the NCAA's desire that such professional athletes not be used. Every potential sponsor shall be advised of the terms of this provision prior to contracting with such sponsor. Advertisements in broadcasts that contain references to the games, personnel (except as noted above), broadcasts, or other activities of professional sports organizations are not acceptable.
Nontherapeutic drugs and, generally, other drug and patent medicine advertisements are prohibited; however, analgesics, cold remedies, antacids and athletic training aids that are in general use are acceptable. Institutional advertising by pharmaceutical firms also is acceptable.
For a full list of the NCAA's advertising and promotional standards, please visit:
https://www.ncaa.com/_flysystem/public-s3/files/Advertising_Promotional_Standards_2020_0.pdf
9. No commercial may relate, directly or indirectly, the advertising company or the advertised product to the participating institutions or their student-athletes, or the Association itself, unless prior written approval has been granted by the NCAA president.
10. The NCAA reserves the right of final approval for all advertising in any championship.
11. Any station that does not broadcast a game of a championship, after contract for such space, shall be required to pay a forfeiture fee of 50 percent of the initial rights fee for that particular championship.
12. Only the NCAA Radio Network banner may be displayed at the championship site.
13. The commercial format used by radio stations shall conform to acceptable broadcast standards to ensure a quality broadcast.
14. Non-rights holding radio stations/networks may report on the events of the championship at anytime (other than on a live basis from courtside) for broadcast within the framework of general and sports newscasts. Only a station/network that has purchased rights from the NCAA may air a live description of any competition. Non-rights holders originating live reports from an NCAA championship venue must adhere to the following guidelines when Westwood One is broadcasting the NCAA Championship event.
| A. | Live description of any game in progress is prohibited. Programming shall originate only from the media workroom, and use of NCAA courtesy telephones is prohibited. Radio station or networks may order telephones from the NCAA telecommunications contact center. |
| B. | Live programming may not originate from inside the arena on game days from the beginning of the contest at the site each day until the end of the last game at the site each day. |
| C. | Agencies that do not own play-by-play rights but are affiliates of Westwood One or a participating institution's network may generate live programming (e.g., news reports, call-in show participation) for a maximum of ten minutes per hour at times other than the period described in 14B. |
| D. | Agencies that are not affiliates of Westwood One or the schools' networks may generate live programming for a maximum of one minute per hour at times other than the period described in 14B. |
15. Non-rights holding radio stations/networks shall not be allowed to originate any ancillary programming (e.g., call-in shows) from the arena during the championship.
16. This policy only applies to the current championship season and is subject to change next season.
17. If you have any questions regarding this policy, please contact Nate Flannery at the NCAA national office (phone: 317-917-6523 or e-mail: nflannery@ncaa.org), Howard Deneroff at Westwood One (phone: 646-554-3687 or e-mail: hdeneroff@westwoodone.com), or Mike Dodson at Learfield (phone: 859-226-4390 or e-mail: mike.dodson@learfield.com), or Cindy Johnson at Learfield (phone: 859-226-4225 or e-mail: cindy.johnson@learfield.com).