How to watch the NCAA men’s and women’s tournaments on cable or streaming (2024)

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The NCAA men’s basketball tournament will air on CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV. A cable subscription or a subscription to a streaming service that offers those channels will get you every game.

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Almost. The NCAA March Madness Live app — which is available to download on 19 platforms — provides access to all games airing on TBS, TNT and TruTV, along with other features such as a channel that offers whiparound coverage, much like the NFL RedZone on fall Sundays.

Naturally, there’s a catch: You’ll need a cable or streaming subscription to access the app.

Max subscribers also can watch the games on TBS, TNT and TruTV via the B/R Sports add-on, which will be free throughout the NCAA tournament. The cheapest Max subscription starts at $9.99 a month, and allows streams on two devices at once. The company is advertising a rate as low as $5.83 a month for customers who prepay for a year of Max.

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If you have Paramount Plus, you’ll only be able to stream the 21 men’s games that will air on CBS (see the schedule below).

Consult this list to make sure the Paramount Plus app works on your TV or other device on which you plan to stream the game.

You might already have a subscription to Paramount Plus through your mobile phone provider. Check Vulture’s list. Walmart Plus club members also have access to Paramount Plus for no additional charge.

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Yes. New Paramount Plus subscribers can get a week of the service for free as a trial. So you could conceivably sign up before the main portion of the tournament begins Thursday, watch the first and second rounds, and then cancel before the free trial week ends, not paying a dime.

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There are a couple of streaming services that include CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV, and one of them is offering a free trial that could be used to catch a nice chunk of the NCAA tournaments (both men’s and women’s) at no cost.

Keep in mind that Fubo does not offer TBS, TNT or truTV, and Sling TV does not offer CBS, so you probably want to steer clear of those services if getting the most out of March Madness is your goal.

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If you’re truly old-school and only have an antenna, you’ll be limited to the games that air on your local CBS station. That means you’ll get only four games over each of the tournament’s first two days (all times Eastern):

Thursday’s CBS schedule

12:15 p.m.: No. 8 Mississippi State vs. No. 9 Michigan State

2:45 p.m.: No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 16 Howard or No. 16 Wagner

7:10 p.m.: No. 3 Kentucky vs. No. 14 Oakland

9:40 p.m.: No. 6 Texas Tech vs. No. 11 North Carolina State

Friday’s CBS schedule

12:15 p.m.: No. 8 Florida Atlantic vs. No. 9 Northwestern

2:45 p.m.: No. 1 Connecticut vs. No. 16 Stetson

7:10 p.m.: No. 4 Duke vs. No. 13 Vermont

9:40 p.m.: No. 5 Wisconsin vs. No. 12 James Madison

In the second round, CBS has recently aired four men’s games on Saturday and three on Sunday. Those matchups will be announced after the first-round games are played. CBS also televises four of the eight games in the Sweet 16 and two of the four Elite Eight games, but this year the network is not televising the Final Four or the national championship game. Those will be on TBS.

So if you only have an antenna, you’ll be able to see only 21 of the 67 games in the men’s tournament.

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It’s a question that pops up every March, as sports fans with cable or satellite subscriptions try to locate a channel they tend to ignore for the other 11 months of the year. Some cable and satellite providers put TruTV on the same channel for all subscribers: AT&T U-Verse (Channels 164 and 1164), Verizon Fios (Channels 183 and 683), Dish Network (Channel 242) and DirecTV (Channel 246). TruTV’s channel location varies on other providers such as Cox, Spectrum and Xfinity, so you’ll have to check your program guide if you get your cable from them.

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ESPN’s family of networks — ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPNews — will broadcast the NCAA women’s basketball tournament. You’ll need either a cable subscription or a subscription to a streaming service — YouTube TV or Hulu Live TV, for instance — to watch the games on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPNews.

ABC will air nine games, and you’ll only need an antenna to see them:

March 23

1 p.m.: Portland 3 first round, No. 3 Connecticut vs. No. 14 Jackson State

3 p.m.: Albany 2 first round, No. 1 Iowa vs. No. 16 Tennessee Martin or No. 16 Holy Cross

March 24

1 p.m.: Second-round game, teams TBD

3 p.m.: Second-round game, teams TBD

March 30

1 p.m.: Albany 2 Sweet 16 game, teams TBD

3:30 p.m.: Albany 2 Sweet 16 game, teams TBD

March 31

1 p.m.: Albany 1 Elite Eight game, teams TBD

3 p.m.: Portland 4 Elite Eight game, teams TBD

April 7

3 p.m.: National championship game, teams TBD