How to Watch March Madness Without Cable

TBS, TNT and TruTV games for $10 a month

Max

March Madness is here. The men’s NCAA tournament is in full swing, and the women’s tournament starts on Friday. If you are wondering how to watch all of this college basketball this month and into April, you’ve come to the right place.

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.

March Madness begins this week with the start of the men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments.

John Fisher/Getty Images

How to watch 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.

Sarah Tew/CNET

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.

A cheaper streaming option than YouTube TV is available for watching the men’s tournament. 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 men’s games on TBS, TNT and TruTV.

James Martin/CNET

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.

Max

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.

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.