Charles Barkley, others to join coverage

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NEW YORK -- Look out, March Madness. Charles Barkley is coming.

CBS and Turner executives confirmed Tuesday that the brash Hall of Famer and other big names from TNT's NBA broadcasts would be part of their joint coverage of the NCAA tournament starting this season.

Expect Marv Albert to call some early-round games and Barkley and Kenny Smith to offer analysis from the studio under the 14-year, $10.8 billion deal the two companies signed in April.

Tournament games will air on CBS and three of Turner's cable channels: TNT, TBS and truTV. Sports chiefs Sean McManus of CBS and David Levy of Turner said at the Sports Media & Technology conference in New York that the companies would combine their rosters of basketball commentators.

CBS will still broadcast the Final Four each year through 2015, so the network's lead team of Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg will keep calling the national semifinal and championship games, though a third person could join the crew.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press

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