TBS, TNT and TruTV games for $10 a month
Max
March Madness begins tonight with two First Four games for the men’s NCAA tournament. The women’s tournament gets underway tomorrow night. After two nights of play-in games for each tournament, the field of 64 is set for each and then things really start to kick into gear. The first full day of games is Thursday for the men and Friday for the women. So you don’t have much time left to figure out how to watch all of the madness over the next few weeks.
We’ve done the work for you and figured out the best ways to watch or stream March Madness. You don’t need a cable or satellite TV subscription to watch either tournament.
Best ways to stream March Madness
For the men’s tournament, you need only two apps for $23. Between Paramount Plus and Max, you can stream every game live. Paramount Plus will show every game broadcast on CBS, and Max has the games shown on TBS, TNT and TruTV.
For the women’s tournament, you will need a live TV streaming service to watch every game. I recommend YouTube TV because it includes the five channels needed — ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNEWS and ABC — and also includes multiview so you can watch four games at once.
YouTube TV also includes CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV for the men’s tournament, so it’s also the best choice if you want to watch both NCAA basketball tournaments.
YouTube TV costs $83 a month and includes CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV for the men’s tournament and ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPNEWS for the women’s tournament. Right now, the first six months are discounted to $70 a month, and there is a free, 10-day trial.
YouTube TV is our pick for March Madness. Not only is it the cheapest live TV streaming service (with the current discount) that offers all the channels for both tournaments, but it’s also the only service that offers multiview so you can watch four games at once.
Not every local channel is available in every market, so you’ll need to make sure ABC and CBS are offered in your area. Plug in your ZIP code on its welcome page to see which local networks you get.
Read our YouTube TV review.
For more, check out our live TV streaming services guide and our recommendations for the best sports streaming services.
Stream the men’s March Madness for $23
The $13-a-month Paramount Plus with Showtime plan will get you the men’s tournament games broadcast on CBS, and Max’s $10-a-month Basic with Ads plan will show the games on TBS, TNT and TruTV.
You’ll need the $13 a month Paramount Plus with Showtime plan in order to livestream the men’s March Madness games broadcast on CBS.
Read our Paramount Plus review.
The Basic with ads plan for Max costs $10 a month and will show the men’s March Madness games on TBS, TNT or TruTV.
Live sports on Max will soon require the $17 a month ad-free Standard plan, but you won’t need to shell out for it to watch this year’s March Madness games. The change goes into effect on Sunday, March 30, and the last games broadcast on TBS/TNT/TruTV are the two Elite Eight games on TBS on Saturday, March 29. The Final Four and national championship will air on CBS, so you won’t need Max after the Elite Eight round.
Read our Max review.
March Madness tournament schedule
Here are the schedules, round by round, for both the men’s and women’s tournaments:
Men’s March Madness schedule
- First Four: March 18 to 19
- First round: March 20 to 21
- Second round: March 22 to 23
- Sweet 16: March 27 to 28
- Elite Eight: March 29 to 30
- Final Four: Saturday, April 5
- National championship: Monday, April 7
Women’s March Madness schedule
- First Four: March 19 to 20
- First round: March 21 to 22
- Second round: March 23 to 24
- Sweet 16: March 28 to 29
- Elite Eight: March 30 to 31
- Final Four: Friday, April 4
- National championship: Sunday, April 6
How to watch the March Madness tournament for free
Go to the NCAA’s March Madness Live site or use its March Madness Live app and you’ll be able to watch games for free. You can watch March Madness Live on iOS and Android devices along with Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV and Xbox. The app also supports AirPlay and Chromecast. As with most things that are free, there’s a catch. Without proving you’re a pay TV subscriber, you get only a three-hour preview, after which point you’ll need to log in to continue watching.
You can also use an indoor antenna hooked up to your TV to watch the men’s games on CBS and the women’s games on ABC. Quality antennas cost as little as $20. See our comparison of indoor antennas here.
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