Dramatic moment CBS cuts away from March Madness coverage to broadcast Kate Middleton’s statement revealing she has cancer

CBS paused its March Madness coverage to air Kate Middleton’s statement revealing she has cancer, in a rare break from the network’s NCAA programming.

The broadcaster had more than five minutes left in Northwestern’s game against Florida Atlantic on Friday afternoon when the news broke.

The break lasted a few minutes before the match resumed.

It marked the first breakaway from the NCAA basketball tournament since CBS suspended broadcast of the 2003 first-round games to provide news coverage of the United States’ invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003.

College basketball fans didn’t actually miss any of the on-court action, as the broadcast headed to a commercial break when the special report came out.

There were more than five minutes left in Northwestern’s game against Florida Atlantic

Like most major broadcasters in the US, the network paused its normal coverage to show the video of the Princess of Wales addressing the audience to announce her diagnosis.

Presenter Norah O’Donnell came on screen to break the news that Catherine had just revealed she had been diagnosed with cancer.

The broadcast then showed about 30 seconds of the princess’ video announcement.

From a sofa surrounded by daffodils and spring blossoms, she said: ‘In January I had major abdominal surgery in London and at the time my condition was thought to be non-cancerous. The operation was successful. However, tests after the surgery revealed that cancer was present. My medical team therefore recommended that I undergo a course of preventive chemotherapy and I am now in the early stages of that treatment.

‘This obviously came as a huge shock, and William and I have done everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family.’

After airing the short segment, the network immediately returned to the NCAA Tournament game, which had about five minutes remaining.

The game between the Northwestern Wildcats and the Florida Atlantic Owls appeared to be in a timeout when coverage resumed.

At the time, Northwestern had a slim four-point lead over Florida Atlantic in the tight matchup between the No. 9 and No. 8 seeds.

Northwestern had a slim four-point lead over Florida Atlantic at the time of the break

The Princess of Wales with her children in her Mother’s Day portrait

The Wildcats went on to earn a 77-64 win after scoring 19 points in overtime of the first round game.

It is the first time that CBS’ coverage of the NCAA tournament has been interrupted since 2003, when news of heavy American bombing in Iraq broke during the first round of play.

When large explosions rocked Baghdad, signaling the start of a more serious phase of the U.S.-led air war, the network switched to CBS News coverage instead of the college basketball programs that were scheduled to air.

The network switched coverage of the tournament to ESPN and ESPN 2 after the cable channels preemptively agreed to help CBS with programming in the event of 24-hour coverage of the Iraq War.

Catherine’s cancer was only discovered after she underwent major abdominal surgery at the London Clinic in January. Kensington Palace has said it will not share details about what type of cancer the princess has, or what stage of cancer it is, and has asked people not to speculate.

It is understood that the King – who is currently undergoing cancer treatment himself – and the Queen have both been informed of the news.

At the time of her abdominal surgery in January, Kensington Palace said it was not cancer. They reconfirmed this evening that this is the case and that no tests had confirmed the presence of cancer. However, post-operative tests revealed that ‘cancer was present’.

Tonight’s announcement will send shockwaves around the world and came after weeks of speculation – and wild conspiracy theories – about her health.