For thousands and thousands of sports activities followers, brackets—not baseball—herald the arrival of spring. With its huge upsets, Cinderella tales, and weird mascots, the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship has transcended sports activities to grow to be a cultural occasion.
But it’s a bittersweet time for cord-cutters. If the logistics of following greater than 60 groups by means of a month-long match aren’t arduous sufficient, almost 70 p.c of video games are televised on cable channels. The excellent news is that this yr the NCAA Tournament Selection Show, the Final Four, and the National Championship will air on CBS. The solely factor you’ll want is an antenna to catch that motion.
The 68 video games that make up the match shall be broadcast throughout 4 networks: CBS, TBS, TNT, and truTV. Based on the schedule at press time, we’ve put collectively a method that may let you watch each minute of March Madness reside and not using a cable subscription. The choices under will take you right through to the title sport on April 6.
Catch CBS video games over the air or excessive
CBS’s March Madness protection begins on March 19 with the First Round. The best—and solely free—strategy to watch all of the CBS motion is with a good antenna. If you’re buying one for the primary time, keep in mind to first check to see which stations you can receive in your space, and which antenna sort you’ll want to drag in your CBS affiliate. Given the difficult logistics of catching so many video games, you may additionally need to spend money on an over-the-air DVR to time-shift a few of your viewing.
You can catch a lot of the March Madness motion with an over-the-air TV antenna (supplied you’re in vary of a broadcast TV transmission tower).
The best—and solely free—strategy to watch all of the CBS motion is with a good antenna. If you’re buying one for the primary time, keep in mind to first check to see which stations you can receive in your space, and which antenna sort you’ll want to drag in your CBS affiliate. Given the difficult logistics of catching so many video games, you may additionally need to spend money on an over-the-air DVR to time-shift a few of your viewing.
If you’ll be able to’t entry CBS over the air, think about subscribing to CBS All Access. The app gives you reside streaming entry to each sport broadcast on the community. The video games, nonetheless, are solely out there in markets the place CBS All Access—which additionally options on-demand programming—gives reside streaming. That’s presently more than150 markets across the U.S., so likelihood is good you’re in a single.
A subscription with restricted commercials prices $5.99 monthly, or you’ll be able to go ad-free for $9.99 monthly (the service gives a one-week free trial). The CBS All Access app is offered for Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, PS4, Xbox, Windows 10, iOS, and Android.
Sling is the factor for Turner telecasts
As in earlier years, the majority of the match shall be aired on three Turner Sports networks—TBS, TNT, and TruTV—with a lot of the motion on the flagship station. TruTV will host all of the First Four contests, after which cut up protection with the opposite three networks all through the primary and second rounds. TBS will then share protection with CBS of the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight contests.
Sling TV continues to dangle engaging incentives in entrance of latest subscribers.
The Sling Blue package deal gives you all three of these channels—together with greater than 40 different well-liked networks—for a limited-time provide of $30 monthly ($20 for the primary month). (If you’re already a Sling Orange buyer, you presently get TNT and TBS and can buy the Comedy Extra add-on for a further $5 monthly to get TruTV.) A Sling TV subscription additionally comes with a seven-day free trial; that’s essential as a result of March Madness really runs by means of the primary week of April. If you time your subscription proper, you can keep away from paying for a second month of Sling to catch the Final Four and the championship sport.
You can watch Sling TV in your iOS or Android machine or in your huge display with a Chromecast, Apple TV, or Amazon Fire TV. Currently, the service is providing a free Amazon Fire TV Stick with a two-month pay as you go dedication.
You’ll nonetheless want a strategy to entry the video games broadcast on CBS, so Sling can also be providing reductions on an RCA HDTV Indoor Antenna and AirTV Bundle whenever you prepay for 3 months.
AT&T TV Now steps onto the court docket
AT&T’s streaming service, previously often known as DirecTV Now, gives lots of the similar channels as SlingTV. Its fundamental Plus package deal gives you greater than 45 channels—together with TBS, TNT, and TruTV—for $65 monthly. This lineup additionally consists of ESPN and ESPN2, each of which will definitely have highlights and different protection of the match. Use their channel lookup tool to see if you will get a reside CBS feed in your space as properly. As with Sling TV, you get the primary seven days free.
You can stream AT&T TV Now to your pc, iOS or Android gadgets, Apple TV, Android Fire TV, and Chromecast. It’s value noting that AT&T Now is a separate and distinct service from AT&T TV. The latter is a cable-like service that features a set-top field whereas the previous requires you to supply your personal {hardware} however doesn’t require a long-term contract.
Hulu with Live TV and YouTube TV
Unlike its rivals, Hulu and YouTube every provide a single, flat-fee package deal that features the 4 channels you’ll want to catch all of March Madness. They’re priced comparably—$50 monthly for YouTube TV and $55 monthly for Hulu with Live TV—however you’ll must test with every service to see which gives the required reside channel streams in your space earlier than making your choice. As with lots of the companies, there’s a seven-day free trial out there.
FuboTV: The streaming service for sports activities followers
FuboTV gives lots of the similar reside TV channels the opposite main streaming companies present, nevertheless it locations particular emphasis on sports activities protection. Curiously, nonetheless, it doesn’t carry ESPN. But for the needs of March Madness, a $55-per-month subscription will ship all of the Turner networks (together with TBS, TNT, and TruTV), plus native CBS stations (for 90 p.c of U.S. households, that’s).
FuboTV will carry a few of the video games main as much as March Madness in 4K decision.
The NCAA March Madness Live app
The NCAA’s personal March Madness 2019 app gives plenty of specialised content material that revolves across the championship sequence.
The NCAA is as soon as once more providing all 67 video games by means of the NCAA March Madness Live app. In addition to the sport streams, the app gives reside scores and stats, an interactive bracket, traditional March Madness movies, sport notifications, and curated social content material.
As engaging as this selection sounds for cord-cutters, the declare which you could watch your complete match with NCAA March Madness Live is slightly deceptive. Only the CBS broadcasts can be found and not using a cable subscription, after which solely in your pc and iOS or Android cellular machine. To view CBS’s video games in your TV, or any of the Turner community broadcasts on any machine, you want a cable subscription login. Still, it is likely to be value downloading when you don’t need to miss any of the CBS matchups whilst you’re away from a TV.
Time for tip off
The choices for streaming reside sports activities have by no means been higher, so don’t let reducing the wire make you miss the NCAA champs reducing the online. Grab a beer and your bracket and make the most of these cable options for courtside seats for one the best sporting occasions of the yr.