Apple and CBS Sports have announced that the 2006 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship will be available from the iTunes Music Store. Condensed versions of the tournament games will be available for $1.99 per game or $19.99 for all 63 games using Apple’s new “Season Pass” feature on iTunes. Full-length versions of this year’s semifinals and championship game, as well as “compilations of buzzer beaters, upsets and memorable championship games from past NCAA Tournaments” will also be available on iTunes.
The new Season Pass option, which is very similar to the recently introduced Multi-Pass feature, allows iTunes customers to automatically receive the game videos as they become available for a much lower price than buying each game separately. “The new Season Pass feature on iTunes is the easiest way to purchase the entire 2006 NCAA Tournament,” says Apple. “Every game will automatically be placed in a customer’s download queue the day after it airs on CBS. Customers will be notified about new game highlights as they become available via email, and can be downloaded once they log into iTunes.”