There are a few options to watch March Madness games for those that don’t have a cable subscription.
If have log-in credentials, however, just go to the March Madness streaming portal on the web, or download the March Madness app — you can find it on iOS, Android, Windows 10, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Apple TV, which lets you watch two games at once. Those with AirPlay and Google Chromecast will be able to cast games to your TV.
If you don’t have a cable subscription, you have a few options. The 21 games aired by CBS do not require a log-in credential for streaming, but keep in mind that TBS is airing the Final Four and championship game. You can also snag an HD antenna and watch these games through the tube. One note: As CutCableToday reported, CBS games won’t stream on Amazon Fire TV, Roku, etc. — it will only stream on mobile devices.
For the official March Madness stream, you’ll get a temporary 3-hour live video pass before it asks for subscription credentials. So, if you really want to stream one game, that’s one method.
As Wired notes, you can try using an incognito browser window to get access to the 3-hour window, re-open the browser, and do it multiple times for however many games you want to watch. There’s also the option of using a VPN to mask your IP address.
Another option is Sling TV. Dish’s streaming platform will air 46 games — those that CBS won’t carry — on TBS, truTV, and TNT. Sling costs $20 per month, but you can do a 7-day free trial if you want to watch a subset of the March Madness games for free.
The same goes for Playstation Vue, which carries those three channels and also offers a 7-day free trial. You could technically do a seven day trial with Playstation, and then another seven days with Sling TV.
Finally, if you want to listen via radio, the March Madness app does offer audio feeds without requiring any log-in credentials.
Update: Bad news for Comcast customers trying to stream games on Amazon Fire TV, Roku, or Apple TV. Comcast:
@bbcof83 website at https://t.co/kP0wQEJABX. Comcast will not be supporting any authentication on Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV
— ComcastCares (@comcastcares) March 17, 2016
I just ran into this problem with my Amazon Fire TV. Seemingly every other cable provider allows authentication to access the games, except Comcast. We’ve reached out to the company to find out why.
