68 teams battle it out every March to crown one NCAA champion. It's one of the best sports months of the year, and if you don't want to miss any of the action, you'll need the right apps to thrust all the basketball you can handle into your eyes and ears.
Last year we recommended some of the best apps to watch the tournament on Windows 10 Mobile. This year we'll focus on Windows 10.
Sling TV
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Sling TV has an excellent Windows 10 app and allows you to watch a wide range of content without paying for a cable or satellite subscription. That content includes a large number of NCAA game, as long as you have the correct packages.
Because the NCAA tournament has so many games, it's broadcast on TNT, TBS, CBS, and truTV, often simultaneously. You'll have to make sure you have a combination of Sling TV's packages that include all of these channels, though you can't view CBS games on Sling TV.
The Sling Blue package will get you access to TBS, TNT, and truTV or if you have Sling Orange which comes with TNT and TBS you can add the Comedy Extra add-on for an additional $5 per month.
To see games broadcast on CBS, you'll have to use their website or view it with an OTA tuner.
Sling TV is available for Xbox One and Windows 10. The app itself is free but to view content you need a subscription.
SirusXM
If you prefer to listen to games, or need to listen when you're on the road, you can tune in through SiriusXM. The satellite radio provider is going to broadcast every single game of the tournament.
In addition to live broadcasts of the games, SiriusXM also has new and analysis on other sports channels such as ESPNU Radio, SiriusXM Pac-12 Radio, SiriusXM ACC Radio, and SiriusXM SEC Radio.
The Sirius XM app is available on Windows 10 and Xbox One. It's a free app but the service requires a paid subscription.
Outlook
With 68 teams competing and many tracking brackets that rely on a few select teams winning games, it can be hard to stay on top of the action. With Outlook's "Interesting Calendars" you can add the game times for any NCAA tournament team into your phone, or add every single NCAA team if you'd like. If you want to add every single game, you'll need to select the "College Basketball Playoffs" interesting calendar.
You can add these calendars on Outlook.com and then sync them across any of your devices.
OTA Tuners
While much of the NCAA tournament is on networks that require a paid subscription, CBS is availalbe over the air (OTA). You can use an OTA tuner to watch games, and plenty of other content for free. You can watch OTA television on your TV directy or through the Xbox One using a TV tuner, but you can also watch OTA broadcasts on Windows 10, though you'll need to set some things up.
Two popular options are Plex and HDHomeRun. These require some new hardware and software but give you a lot of viewing flexibility. We have guides on how to set up both Plex and HDHomeRun.
Remember, if you are using an OTA Tuner, there are a number of ways to set up a DVR to record the content.
NCAA March Madness Live
If you don't want to pay for a separate service like Sling TV or Sirus XM, you can watch games on your Xbox One through the NCAA March Madness Live app.
NCAA March Madness Live allows you to watch live games from TBS, TNT and truTV as long as you have a provider that has those channels at home.
The app also allows you to view highlights, analysis, classic games, and check out a bracket to see how yours is doing.
The NCAA March Madness Live app cannot view content from CBS. CBS has their own CBS Sports app that lists this as an option but it doesn't seem to support live content on Windows 10.
The NCAA March Madness Live app is available on Xbox One. It used to be availalbe on other versions of Windows 10 but the app listing now only includes the Xbox One version.
Enjoy the tourney!
How are you going to watch the NCAA tournament? Who's going to win it all and who will be the Cinderella team this year? Let us know in the comments below.
