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Title: How to stream March Madness 2025: Watch the Final Four games on April
4 and 5

Date: Fri, 04 Apr 2025 13:14:48 +0000
Link: https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/stream...

By now, your brackets were likely busted a long time ago. The 2025 NCAA
Tournaments, affectionately known to many as March Madness, are coming to a
close. Both the men's and women's Final Four ΓÇö the semifinal games ΓÇö are
happening this weekend, with the championship to follow in subsequent days.
Different broadcasters own the rights to each tournament, so streaming both
installments of the Final Four can be confusing. IΓÇÖve broken down the best,
most affordable way to access each one so that you'll be ready when the games
begin on Friday.

When is the Final Four?

The women's NCAA basketball Final Four is Friday, April 4. 1-seed Texas takes
on fellow 1-seed South Carolina at 7:00PM ET, then 2-seed UConn will battle 1-
seed UCLA in the other semifinal match up at 9:30PM ET. The winners to play
for the national championship on Sunday, April 6 at 3:00PM ET. All three of
these games will be on ESPN and ESPN+.

The men's NCAA basketball Final Four is Saturday, April 5. The 1-seed Auburn
takes on familiar SEC foe and fellow 1-seed Florida at 6:09PM ET. Following
that game at 8:49PM ET, 1-seed Houston will face 1-seed Duke. The winners
will play for the national championship on Monday, April 7 at 8:50PM ET. All
three of these games will be on CBS.

How to watch the Final Four and championship games

All of the women's games will be available on ESPN and ESPN+, which means you
can watch via a live TV streaming service or in the ESPN app (with a TV log-
in or ESPN+ subscription). The most affordable way to watch these games is
with a $12/month ESPN+ plan. All men's games will air on CBS, where you have
the option of streaming on a live TV service or via Paramount+. The most
affordable way to watch these games is with a $13/month Paramount+ with
Showtime plan.

You could also try a streaming trial this weekend if one is available. Hulu +
Live TV, for example, gives you three days to test its service, while DirecTV
Stream gives five ΓÇö both of them have both CBS and ESPN. The Hulu plan is
available to both new and returning customers, so it might be an option to
watch most of the action from both tournaments. Since all of the games are
spread over four days, you won't get everything, but if you're only watching
one or the other, this is a viable way to save some money.

The rest of this story includes a more complete March Madness overview,
including content that was originally published prior to the start of the
tournaments.

When does March Madness start?

The menΓÇÖs NCAA Basketball Tournament begins on Tuesday, March 18 with two
of the so-called First Four matchups. These are the four games that are used
to determine the final four teams in the main 64-team bracket. To some,
theyΓÇÖre known as the ΓÇ£play-in gamesΓÇ¥ although theyΓÇÖve officially been
part of the men's tournament since 2011. The first game on March 18 begins at
6:40PM ET with another to follow at 9:10PM ET. The same schedule is expected
for the second slate of games on Wednesday, March 19.

On the womenΓÇÖs side, March Madness is offset from the menΓÇÖs tournament by
a day. The first two of the First Four games are Wednesday, March 19 at 7PM
ET and 9PM ET. The second pair of matchups follows on Thursday, March 20 in
the same two time slots.

The 64-team bracket kicks off in earnest for the men at 12:15PM ET on
Thursday, March 20. For the women, the main action begins at 11:30AM ET on
Friday, March 21st. HereΓÇÖs the full schedule for each tournament:

2025 MenΓÇÖs NCAA Basketball Tournament

First Four: March 18-19

First round: March 20-21

Second round: March 22-23

Sweet 16: March 27-28

Elite Eight: March 29-30

Final Four: April 5

Championship game: April 7

2025 WomenΓÇÖs NCAA Basketball Tournament

First Four: March 19-20

First round: March 21-22

Second round: March 23-24

Sweet 16: March 28-29

Elite Eight: March 30-31

Final Four: April 4

Championship game: April 6

How to stream the 2025 MenΓÇÖs NCAA Tournament ASSOCIATED PRESS

CBS and Warner Bros. Discovery share the broadcast rights to the menΓÇÖs
tournament, and as they have in years past, TV coverage will be spread across
four networks. During the course of March Madness, games will air on CBS,
TNT, TBS and truTV, with the final rounds and championship game landing on
CBS.

If you already have a paid TV plan (such as traditional cable), a good way to
watch the menΓÇÖs tournament is with the March Madness Live app or website.
There's a big catch though: CBS games aren't available in the app. That means
this is really only a good option through the Elite Eight. Once you log in
with your TV provider credentials, you can watch games on the other networks
in one spot with features like multiview (up to four games at once),
ΓÇ£excitement alertsΓÇ¥ that let you know when thereΓÇÖs a close game and a
Fast Break stream that covers of all the in-progress games in one spot.

The app also offers ways to follow your bracket, if you filled it out on
MarchMadness.com. And when youΓÇÖre watching on desktop, the crucial Boss
Button will throw up a fake work screen when you need it. March Madness Live
is also available on Amazon, Fire TV, Apple TV, iOS, macOS, Google Play, LG
smart TVs, Roku and Xbox devices.

Your most affordable option to watch every game is to actually use two
services. ItΓÇÖs not ideal, I know, but it will save you a lot of money.
MaxΓÇÖs Basic plan is $10/month and gives you access to live games from TNT,
TBS and truTV with three-game multiview. B/R Sports, which powers all of the
live coverage on Max, will only be available on the pricier Standard and
Premium levels starting March 30. That's not a problem since games after that
date will only air on CBS. For the CBS games, youΓÇÖll need a Paramount+ with
Showtime subscription that costs $13/month. So, in total, your best option to
stream all of the menΓÇÖs tournament is $23 spread across two apps.

A live TV service like YouTube TV or Hulu plus Live TV is over $50 more per
month at full price, but they would offer you ΓÇ£one-stop shoppingΓÇ¥ for all
the games in the menΓÇÖs tournament. YouTube TV is currently on sale for
$70/month for the first six months you use it.

How to stream the 2025 WomenΓÇÖs NCAA Tournament ASSOCIATED PRESS

While Warner Brothers Discovery owns the rights to the menΓÇÖs NCAA
Tournament, ESPN has the womenΓÇÖs bracket locked down. Every game of the
womenΓÇÖs tournament will be spread across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and
ESPNEWS, including the First Four matchups. The Final Four will be on ESPN,
but the championship game will air on ABC. All three of those culminating
games will stream on ESPN+.

Since ESPN+ wonΓÇÖt get every game, itΓÇÖs not an option if you want to watch
the entire tournament. You will be able to watch ΓÇ£select matchupsΓÇ¥ on
both ESPN+ and Disney+, but ESPN hasnΓÇÖt announced what those will be. So,
unfortunately, your best bet is a live-TV streaming service like Sling,
YouTube TV or Hulu + Live TV for a comprehensive experience. Sling is the
cheapest avenue here, with the requisite Orange and Sports Extra plans
costing $34 (Sling is currently offering a discount on the first month of
Orange). YouTube and Hulu live TV options are both the same price at
$83/month (YouTube TV currently discounted to $70 for the first six months),
so itΓÇÖs a matter of which set of content and features you like best.
YouTube TV offers a handy multiview tool so you can watch up to four games at
once, but Hulu + Live TV comes with Disney+ and ESPN+ (both with ads) for
that cost. (Opting for Hulu + Live TV only saves you one whole dollar per
month if you donΓÇÖt include the Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu bundling.)

If youΓÇÖre a more casual fan who can afford to roll the dice on the
ΓÇ£selectΓÇ¥ options on ESPN+, you can save some money. That service only
costs $12/month. And if you already have a TV plan that includes the ESPN
family of networks, the ESPN app is the best place to watch the tournament.
The mix of scores and info, along with multiview streaming for up to four
games at a time on Apple TV and Xbox, make the app a well-equipped conduit
for the womenΓÇÖs tournament.

The March Madness website only shows scores and news for the womenΓÇÖs
tournament. There are no live games available on the website.

What if I want to stream both the menΓÇÖs and womenΓÇÖs tournaments?
ASSOCIATED PRESS

If youΓÇÖre hoping to stream all of both the menΓÇÖs and womenΓÇÖs NCAA
tournaments, I hope you ordered SamsungΓÇÖs eight-TV bundle. In terms of
streaming services, just jump straight to a live-TV option like YouTube TV or
Hulu + Live TV. I prefer the former because of its multiview feature ΓÇô a
tool that Hulu doesnΓÇÖt offer. At times when there are multiple games that
you want to watch, especially during the first two rounds, youΓÇÖll want
multiview in order to keep tabs on all of the action.

Are any of the March Madness games available to stream for free?

You can watch all of the games broadcast on CBS on the March Madness website
and mobile apps without a TV provider. Sure, itΓÇÖs a small sample of the
tournament, but itΓÇÖs completely free and a good option for casual fans who
donΓÇÖt have a paid TV plan they can exploit for more of the action. ItΓÇÖs
also a good option for watching the first round at work, if your company
hasnΓÇÖt blocked streaming sites, or if you can discreetly watch on your
phone.

For the womenΓÇÖs tournament, there arenΓÇÖt any games available for free.
Unless you have an old-school OTA antenna, in which case you can watch
menΓÇÖs games on CBS and womenΓÇÖs games on ABC without any kind of streaming
plan. Of course, this is a streaming guide so IΓÇÖd consider an antenna an
extraordinary move in 2025.

If you were hoping to use a free trial period to watch March Madness, IΓÇÖve
got bad news. None of them will be long enough to watch an entire tournament.
Some of them donΓÇÖt offer them at all, but the longest is YouTube TV at 10
days which wouldnΓÇÖt get you through the second weekend.

Update, March 20, 2025 12:19PM ET: This guide has been updated to clarify the
games available on March Madness Live and to update game availability and
pricing for Max.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at
https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/stream...
2025-watch-the-final-four-games-on-april-4-and-5-181552477.html?src=rss

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