Apple and March Madness. What's the Connection?

Apple Computer is to bring condensed versions--we’re assuming this means “the best bits"--of all the 2006 NCAA Division I Basketball championship games to the iTunes Music Store. The college ball games will be available for $1.99 apiece the day after they air on CBS’ College Sports TV--a channel that’s heavy on howling university entourages, clamorous cheerleaders and tussling wunderkinds.

Yet it looks as though the tech bellwether would prefer customers to splash out on a “Season Pass” feature on iTunes for $19.99, thereby receiving condensed versions of all 63 games the day after they are played for viewing on a computer or a video iPod. Much like a podcast, every game will automatically be placed in a customer’s download queue the day after it airs on CBS, and will be available for download once a user logs into iTunes.