It seems that CBS, after charging $19.95 last year for internet views of the March Madness tournament, is starting to find a clue:

CBS SportsLine has launched March Madness on Demand, which will allow hoops junkies to watch any game in the so-called Big Dance, except the one that's being shown on their local CBS-TV affiliate, for free at the NCAA Sports Web site.

What brought about this change?

Joe Ferreira, vice president of programming for CBS SportsLine, said Ferreira that the decision was made to go from a paid service to a free offering because the company figured it could reach a wider audience by not charging viewers -- and that would make the service more attractive to advertisers.

Smart move - and I, for one, will be taking advantage of it.