NOTHIN’ BUT ‘NET

Last year about a million people downloaded free video viewers that let them watch as many as 56 full-length online games from the 2006 NCAA Basketball Tournament.

This year that number will skyrocket to at least 2 million downloads, according to media estimates. The expected interest has forced CBS Sportsline — the provider of the ad-supported free Webcasts — to double the capacity of the network it’s using to stream video from the first two full rounds of games.

While fans jump into the excitement of the annual men’s college basketball championship, another group will be watching how that enthusiasm affects workplace data networks.

Regional IT network managers, aware that a large share of the audience for the first two weeks of games will be office workers, say they’ll monitor for slowdowns or delays caused by online video or audio sessions.

The tournament starts Thursday with games broadcast and streamed throughout the weekend. The tournament ends April 2.

As March Madness becomes more embedded in the Web, observers wonder if the American workplace can manage the digital streaming of video, audio and regular Web visits that accompany the annual event.

Garv Brakel, information systems manager for the city of Spokane, said the city’s large-pipe internal network has not seen any disruptions in years past. But if Web use this month takes off among the city’s workers, his IT staff will take corrective measures, Brakel said.

“We’ll be watching what happens, and if there’s any sign of problems we’ll take steps to control Web access (to sports sites),” Brakel said.

Several sources have said as many as 23 million Americans will spend some time over the next three weeks watching online games, checking scores or getting involved in Web madness through workplace pools.

Web traffic monitoring site comScore said about 8 million college basketball fans last year logged in during the tournament’s first day — roughly 7 percent of all U.S. Internet users as of March 2006.

Last year was the first year CBS Sportsline introduced its March Madness on Demand, the free video streams of the first 56 games, plus archived highlights of other games. This year, CBS Sportsline has made the video screen on its player larger and is preparing to handle even more traffic than last year.

The same free system will be in place again; the one restriction on videocasts is that CBS blacks out Web streaming of games in areas where CBS is broadcasting on a local TV affiliates.

Regional interest in the games this year may be higher due to involvement by Gonzaga University and Washington State University.

Media observers say the heaviest online traffic will occur March 15-16 and March 22-23 — normal Thursday and Friday workdays when the games run from morning to late evening across the country.

Washington State University’s Dave Ostrom will also keep watch for any spike in online activity, especially on March 22 and 23, the two days following WSU’s spring break.

WSU’s campus network is shared by staff, administrators and students. It’s been known to buckle at times when unusual activity occurs, said Ostrom, the school’s director of communications and networks.

“When the online game World of Warcraft came out a few years ago, the impact caused by downloads (by students) was so severe we had to take steps to lock down access,” he said.

Alex Riethmiller, a spokesman for CBS Sportsline, said the worst-case scenario for network managers would be for workers who are streaming the games to also load up a separate browser to listen to live radio broadcasts over the Web from Westwood One.

Some fans will want to listen to a game in instances where a team they are following is being shown live on CBS TV, said Riethmiller. That game, he said, would not be streamed online because CBS wants to protect its TV audience.

“But the person who can’t see the online game for that reason might load up the audio of the radio stream from Westwood One because they’re not near a TV,” said Riethmiller.

What CBS also learned from a year ago is that company IT departments want some help if the games become too much of a distraction. CBS has posted an online link at www.ncaasports .com that guides network managers in how to block access to Sportsline video streams.