How To Watch the NCAA Basketball Tournament 2024 (2024)

The NCAA Basketball Tournament is a time to celebrate the season’s best college basketball teams. From March to April, national championships are on the line as the men’s and women’s tournaments take over TV screens nationwide.

You can watch men’s March Madness games on CBS, TBS, TNT, and truTV. Meanwhile, ABC and ESPN networks will televise the women’s tournament.

Keep reading for more details on how to watch the NCAA Tournament—including ways to watch select games for free.

Jump to:

• NCAA Tournament channels
• NCAA Tournament schedule
• Best NCAA Tournament TV plans
• Watch the NCAA Tournament for free

Get ready for a March Madness marathon of over 130 NCAA Tournament games. Sure, it’s a lot to monitor. But we created helpful round-by-round channel guides below. And if you want the full scoop, hit the buttons after each table for the complete men’s and women’s TV schedules.

You can also visit the NCAA’s official Men’s Basketball Bracket and Women’s Basketball Bracket for up-to-date stats and scores.

You can watch the NCAA Basketball Tournament through most TV providers, but Hulu + Live TV offers our favorite March Madness TV plan. Starting at $76.99 a month, you’ll get every channel of the men’s and women’s tournaments. The live TV streaming service also includes ESPN+ at no extra cost and an unlimited cloud DVR.

On its own, ESPN+ ($10.99 a month) is a cheap way to watch parts of the women’s tournament—offering select ABC and ESPN game simulcasts—and the men’s National Invitation Tournament (NIT). Paramount+ is also an inexpensive option for watching the men’s NCAA Tournament. Its $11.99-a-month Premium plan includes live CBS games and additional CBS Sports coverage.

If you’re looking for the cheapest way to tune in, a one-time TV antenna purchase can give you those same ABC and CBS games. But we’ll explain more about that in our free March Madness viewing options section further down.

Many popular TV services carry March Madness channels. But because the men’s competition airs between CBS Sports and TNT Sports networks, some providers show only a fraction of the tournament.

The following table highlights the TV providers that have men’s tournament channels. Apart from Philo, every provider listed below also offers the ESPN networks that show the women’s tournament—though you may need a higher-tiered plan to get ESPNews and ESPNU.

During March Madness, you can watch a handful of games for free using an over-the-air (OTA) antenna.

Every women’s game on ABC and men’s game on CBS is available over the air. Though, not everyone lives within range of each channel. You can verify OTA channel availability by entering your zip code into the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Reception Map Tool.

If you need an antenna, most cost anywhere between $20 to $60. We prefer the Mohu Leaf 50 because its 60-mile range and multidirectional design are ideal for suburban areas. But you can visit our Best OTA Antennas page to check out other antenna options.

The 2024 NCAA Basketball Tournament will air on CBS Sports, TNT Sports, and ESPN channels. Specifically, men’s games are on CBS, TBS, TNT, and truTV, while women’s games are on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNews, and ESPNU.

Hulu + Live TV is the best TV provider for watching March Madness because it has every tournament channel and includes ESPN+ for extra college basketball coverage. Sling TV offers a cheaper alternative to watching NCAA basketball, but you’ll need an OTA antenna to watch games that air on ABC and CBS.

Speaking of antennas, you can avoid a monthly TV subscription and watch select matchups games over the air. All you need is an antenna strong enough to pick up your local ABC and CBS stations.

Our sports experts spent over eight hours researching and testing the best ways to watch the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Like the single-elimination tournament, we put TV providers head to head to determine the ideal viewing options. We based our provider recommendations on channel availability, pricing, and ease of use.

Check out our How We Rank page to learn more about our methods.

Data effective as of post date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.

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