The brackets are set and the teams are en route to their respective arenas. The 2025 NCAA Tournaments, affectionately known to many as March Madness, begin this week. The mens tournament begins first on March 18 with the womens version tipping off on March 19. Both will begin with First Four or play-in games (depending on who you ask) before providing action on the court through the first weekend in April. Different broadcasters own the rights to each tournament, so streaming them both can be confusing. Ive broken down the best, most affordable way to access each one so that you'll be ready when the games begin. When does March Madness start? The mens 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, theyre known as the play-in games although theyve 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 womens side, March Madness is offset from the mens 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. Heres the full schedule for each tournament: 2025 Mens 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 Womens 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 Mens NCAA Tournament ASSOCIATED PRESS CBS and Warner Bros. Discovery share the broadcast rights to the mens 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), the best way to watch the mens tournament is with the March Madness Live app or website. Once you log in with your TV provider credentials, you can watch every game in one spot with features like multiview (up to four games at once) and excitement alerts that let you know when theres a close game. The app also offers ways to follow your bracket, if you filled it out on MarchMadness.com. And when youre 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. If you dont have a compatible TV provider already, your best option is to actually use two services. Its not ideal, I know, but it will save you a lot of money. Maxs Standard plan is $17/month and gives you access to live games from TNT, TBS and truTV. While you can watch NCAA Tournament games with the Basic with Ads tier, B/R Sports, which powers all of the live coverage on Max, will only be available on Standard and Premium levels starting March 30. Yes, Warner Bros. Discovery set its policy to change in the middle of the tournament to make more money. For the CBS games, youll need a Paramount+ with Showtime subscription that costs $13/month. So, in total, your best option to stream all of the mens tournament is $30 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 one-stop shopping for all the games in the mens tournament. YouTube TV is currently on sale for $70/month for the first six months you use it. How to stream the 2025 Womens NCAA Tournament ASSOCIATED PRESS While Warner Brothers Discovery owns the rights to the mens NCAA Tournament, ESPN has the womens bracket locked down. Every game of the womens 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+ wont get every game, its not an option if you want to watch the entire tournament. You will be able to watch select matchups on both ESPN+ and Disney+, but ESPN hasnt 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 its 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 dont include the Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu bundling.) If youre a more casual fan who can afford to roll the dice on the select 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 womens tournament. The March Madness website only shows scores and news for the womens tournament. There are no live games available on the website. What if I want to stream both the mens and womens tournaments? ASSOCIATED PRESS If youre hoping to stream all of both the mens and womens NCAA tournaments, I hope you ordered Samsungs 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 a tool that Hulu doesnt offer. At times when there are multiple games that you want to watch, especially during the first two rounds, youll 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, its a small sample of the tournament, but its completely free and a good option for casual fans who dont have a paid TV plan they can exploit for more of the action. Its also a good option for watching the first round at work, if your company hasnt blocked streaming sites, or if you can discreetly watch on your phone. For the womens tournament, there arent any games available for free. Unless you have an old-school OTA antenna, in which case you can watch mens games on CBS and womens games on ABC without any kind of streaming plan. Of course, this is a streaming guide so Id consider an antenna an extraordinary move in 2025. If you were hoping to use a free trial period to watch March Madness, Ive got bad news. None of them will be long enough to watch an entire tournament. Some of them dont offer them at all, but the longest is YouTube TV at 10 days which wouldnt get you through the second weekend.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/how-to-stream-every-march-madness-2025-game-181552865.html?src=rss