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

CBS cut away from its March Madness coverage to broadcast Kate Middleton's statement revealing that she has cancer in a rare interruption from the network's NCAA programming. 

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

The intermission lasted a few minutes before returning to the game.

It marked the first breakaway from the NCAA basketball tournament since CBS paused its broadcasting 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 had headed to an advertisement break when the special report broke.

CBS cut away from its March Madness coverage to broadcast Kate Middleton 's statement

There were over 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 public to announce her diagnosis. 

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

The broadcast then showed around 30 seconds of the princess's video announcement.  

Speaking from a bench surrounded by daffodils and spring blossom, she said: 'In January, I underwent major abdominal surgery in London and at the time, it was thought that my condition was non-cancerous. The surgery was successful. However, tests after the operation found cancer had been present. My medical team therefore advised that I should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy and I am now in the early stages of that treatment.

'This of course came as a huge shock, and William and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family.'

After airing the brief clip, the network immediately returned to the NCAA Tournament game, which still had around five minutes left. 

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

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

Northwestern had a narrow 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 seal a 77-64 win after scoring 19 points in overtime of the first round game. 

It marks the first time CBS's coverage of the NCAA Tournament has been interrupted since 2003 when the news of heavy US bombing in Iraq broke during the first-round of games. 

When large explosions rocked Baghdad signaling the start of a heavier phase of US-led air war, the network switch to its CBS News coverage instead of the college basketball programming that was scheduled to be broadcast. 

The network switch its coverage of the tournament over to ESPN and ESPN 2 after the cable channels pre-emptively had agreed to assist CBS with the programming in the case of 24-hour coverage of the war in Iraq. 

Catherine's cancer was discovered only after she underwent major abdominal surgery at The London Clinic in January. Kensington Palace has said it will not be sharing details of what kind 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 also 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 that it was non-cancerous. They have confirmed again tonight that is the case and that no tests had confirmed the presence of cancer. However post-operative tests subsequently found that cancer 'had been present'.

This evening's announcement will send shockwaves around the world and came after weeks of speculation - and wild conspiracy theories - about her health.