March Madness: How to watch the NCAA tournament, where to stream games and more

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March Madness — AKA the 2025 NCAA tournament — is here. This year’s tournament is airing across CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV on the men’s side and ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPNU and ESPNews for the women. Here’s what else you should know ahead of March Madness 2025.

Dates: Mar. 18 – Apr. 7

TV channel(s): CBS, TBS, TNT, TruTV, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNews

Streaming: Paramount+, Max, DirecTV, Fubo

When does March Madness start?

The men’s NCAA tournaments has reached the Sweet 16 round.

2025 March Madness Men’s Sweet 16 Schedule:

Thursday, March 27

(2) Alabama vs. (6) BYU, 7:09 p.m. | CBS, Paramount+
(1) Florida vs. (4) Maryland, 7:39 p.m. | TBS, Max
(1) Duke vs. (4) Arizona, 9:39 p.m. | CBS, Paramount+
(3) Texas Tech vs. (10) Arkansas, 10:09 p.m. | TBS, Max

Friday, March 28

(2) Michigan State vs. (6) Ole Miss, 7:09 p.m. | CBS, Paramount+
(2) Tennessee vs. (3) Kentucky, 7:39 p.m. | TBS, Max
(1) Auburn vs. (5) Michigan, 9:39 p.m. | CBS, Paramount+
(1) Houston vs. (4) Purdue, 10:09 p.m. | TBS, Max

What channel is March Madness on?

Games in the men’s NCAA tournament will air across CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV. Don’t have cable? Don’t worry. You can stream the men’s games easily with a subscription to Paramount+ and Max, or a live TV streaming service like DirecTV, Fubo or Sling.

How to watch March Madness 2025:

Max, AKA “the one to watch,” has select live sports available through its Bleacher Report Sports add-on, which is included free of charge for ad-free Max subscribers. (If you currently subscribe to Max’s ad-supported plan, you should be able to access the B/R add-on content until March 30).

On top of March Madness games on TBS, TNT and TruTV, Max has buzzy shows including The White Lotus, The Last of Us, House of the Dragon, Dune: Prophecy and more.

Ad-supported Max starts at $10/month. The Standard plan (which includes B/R Sports free of charge) costs $17/month.

$16.99/month at Max

Paramount+ has two tiers available: an $8/month ad-supported tier and a $13/month premium tier that’s ad-free and includes live access to your local CBS channel (and access to Showtime) — which you’ll need to stream select March Madness games.

Right now, Paramount+ is still offering a free trial — so new subscribers could sign up to watch Selection Sunday and the First Four, plus check out the rest of the Paramount+ library free for seven days.

Try free at Paramount+

While Sling doesn’t offer a free trial these days, since March Madness lasts longer than your standard trial would, anyway, it ends up being a solid option to catch most games in the tournament. Emphasis on most, because one big blindspot for Sling is that it doesn’t carry CBS. However, if you subscribe to Sling, you can authenticate within the March Madness Live app to watch all games, even those on CBS, (including the Final Four and National Championship) on your mobile phone and computer.

That being said, for $45 for your first month of Sling Orange + Blue + (Sports Extra add-on), you can catch all the games on TBS, TNT, TruTV, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPNU, ESPNews and ABC.

$48 for your first month at Sling

2025 NCAA tournament schedule:

The tournament will kick off with Selection Sunday, but we won’t see any action on the court until Mar. 18.

2025 March Madness women’s schedule:

Selection Sunday: 8 p.m. ET, Sunday, March 16 (ESPN)
First Four: March 19-20 (ESPN2, ESPNU)
First round: March 21-22 (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNEWS)
Second round: March 23-24 (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNEWS)
Sweet 16: March 28-29 (ESPN, ESPN2)
Elite Eight: March 30-31 (ESPN)
Final Four: Friday, April 4 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida (ESPN, ESPN+)
NCAA championship game: Sunday, April 6 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida (ABC2, ESPN3, ESPN+)