March Madness is here, and this year it’s easier than ever to follow the basketball action right on your Mac, iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV! The NCAA’s own official March Madness website and apps will be the best place to find all the hoops action, leading up to the big final game on April 4th. (March/April Madness?)
In most cases, you will be required to have a cable subscription to use these apps. However, it will be possible to at least keep up on the scores and highlights without one. (AppleInsider recommends Sling TV’s “Best of Live TV” subscription package for those that have completely cut the cord.)
Mac users can view the games via the NCAA’s official March Madness website as well as on CBSSports.com. All of the CBS games will be available for free, and games being carried by broadcast partners TBS, TNT, and truTV will allow up to three hours of viewing before asking you to authenticate your cable subscription. (You can probably get around that by using private browsing, and VPNs.)
Mac users with a good Internet connection, and a fairly new Apple TV can stream video from their Mac to their Apple TV via AirPlay. So, there’s that.
Speaking of the Apple TV, owners of the latest, fourth-generation model can stream all of the action via the NCAA March Madness Live app. Just like web viewing, all of the games CBS carries will be entirely free, while the TBS, TNT, and truTV feeds will give you a three hour taste of the action before requiring authentication.
The Apple TV version of the app offers the ultra-cool split-screen view, so you can follow the action on two games at once. (The mind boggles.)
iPhone and iPad users can also stream all of the action via the NCAA March Madness Live app. And, as we’ve told you multiple times so far, all of the games CBS carries will be entirely free, while the TBS, TNT, and truTV feeds will give you a three hour sample of the action before requiring you to authenticate.
While you can’t watch the games on your Apple Watch, you can set the NCAA March Madness Live app to deliver live game notifications for upsets, overtimes, close games, and your favorite teams to your Apple Watch. (Try to keep the celebrations or crying jags to a minimum if you’re in a meeting, or attending a funeral.)
Tournament play kicks off this week, as the First Four play March 15-16, followed by the first round on March 17-18 and second round action on March 19-20.
The Sweet 16 is scheduled for March 24-25, followed by the Elite 8 on March 26-27. Final Four games will be played on April 2, with the long road to the championship game finally ending on April 4.
