For Once, Pirating Is Pointless: Official March Madness Streaming Is Exactly What It Should Be

Those of you that have ditched cable often have to resort to less-than-legit means to get your sports fix online. When it comes to this year's NCAA championship, though, you can stop looking. Unlike many TV outlets that do everything they can to gouge you for money, CBS and Turner have made watching March Madness free for most, and undeniably cheap for everyone else.

March Madness may have been 100% free last year, but this year's legal options are almost as good—and, perhaps more interestingly, are actually better than just pirating it. Essentially, the games will be airing in two places: Some on CBS, and some on Turner's cable channels like TBS, TNT, and truTV. You can stream all the CBS games from for free, but the cable games are a bit more complicated. Here's how it works:

If You Subscribe to Cable TV (Or You Know Someone Who Does)

If you already subscribe to cable (or know someone who does), you can stream the non-CBS games online on their respective websites—,, and —all you need is the account number on your cable bill. Stick it in your favorite syncing note-taker so you have it on hand throughout the month.

We're not sure exactly how the system will manage multiple streams for the same account—that is, we don't know if you and a friend could use the same credentials to watch the game at the same time. However, chances are you have a close friend with no interest in sports that might be willing to lend you a hand. If not, though, see your options below for streaming the games.

If You Don't Subscribe to Cable TV (Or You Want to Watch the Games on Your Phone)


If you don't subscribe to cable, you can still stream all the games, but from instead. It isn't free, but you only have to pay $4 to watch the entire month-long tournament—which is hardly something to whine about. That $4 will also let you stream the games on your iOS and Android devices, which is particularly awesome.

At the moment, Coke Zero is offering a promotion for this setup that'll get you full NCAA Live streaming for free. You can find the details over at Slickdeals, but it essentially involves texting the name of an NCAA team's mascot to 2653 to get a promo code for free access. Just be sure to unsubscribe from all the other texts Coke Zero might send you afterward (heck, I'd pay $4 just to not have to deal with all that nonsense).

If You Don't Have Cable, Or $4 to Spare

Frankly, we see no reason not to pay the $4. Yeah, we know, we're usually the ones trying to buck the system, but that's because the system is usually so unbelievably stupid. Turner and the NCAA have succeeded where other TV companies fail miserably: they've actually made it just as easy, if not easier, to stream legally—and with a price that is very worth the product.

That said, if you somehow get enjoyment from crappy, sometimes unreliable live streams—we expect the usual suspects at UStream Sports, First Row Sports, and Stream2Watch will find streams of the games (though we can't verify their reliability since there aren't any games streaming at the time of this writing). No matter what your desires, though, you have a lot of options for catching the tournament all month long, no matter where you are. Plus, if you don't need to actually watch the games, our friends over at Deadspin have a few other solutions for keeping an eye on the games—no computers or $4 fees required.

Any of you sports fans out there got other tips for tuning in to the games this month? Be sure to share them with us in the comments.