As we head into March, we’re quickly approaching every basketball fan’s favorite time of year: March Madness. The first games begin on March 15th, and today, the NCAA has announced all of the ways you will be able to stream the tournament. The NCAA touts that this year, the games are streaming across more platforms than ever before, including an exclusive feature for Apple TV viewers.
For Apple TV users watching with the NCAA March Madness Live app, they will have the ability to watch two games side-by-side thanks to a new split-screen feature. Users can take advantage of the feature to have two live streams going at once, so they’ll never have to miss a buzzer beating finish.
As part of the industry-wide TV Everywhere initiative, pay-tv subscribers will have unlimited live streaming coverage and on-the-go access throughout the entire championship across online, mobile, tablets, set-top boxes and smart TVs. NCAA March Madness Live will once again offer a temporary preview period giving users access to live game streaming before login is required.
In addition, the March Madness Live app on iOS will also support AirPlay, so users can instantly beam live video or audio to compatible speakers or the Apple TV. Finally, the app will support Apple Watch, so users will get alerts and updates sent straight to their wrist whenever there’s a close game, what the NCAA is calling “excitement alerts.”
As it does every year, the NCAA is also updating its GameCenter hub in the March Madness Live app with improved navigation, more curated social content, and an improved “immersive live video experience.” The Video on Demand features have also been improved, offering quick access to access classic tournament moments, match-up analysis, game previews, top plays, featured videos, and more.
The First Four play-in round tips off on March 15th, while the official first/second rounds start on March 17th. The tournament wraps up with the championship game in Houston on April 4th. The NCAA March Madness Live app for the 2016 tournament will be available starting March 10th.
NCAA® March Madness® Live™ to Provide Access to the 2016 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship Across More Platforms Than Ever Before
NCAA March Madness Live will provide college fans with the ultimate digital destination for the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship allowing direct access to all the tournament action across more platforms than ever before. For this year’s NCAA Tournament, the NCAA March Madness Live app – developed in partnership with the NCAA, Turner Sports and CBS Sports – will be available across 12 platforms including Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Roku® players and Roku TV™ models. Additionally, NCAA March Madness Live will offer fans a redesigned GameCenter experience, Google Cast and Airplay support, enhanced video on demand capabilities and an updated Bracket Challenge Game for further access to tournament content.
Beginning with the announcement of the brackets on Selection Sunday™ through the final buzzer in Houston, fans will be able to watch all of the action via NCAA March Madness Live, accessible Thursday, March 10, via www.ncaa.com/marchmadness, www.bleacherreport.com, www.CBSSports.com, Bleacher Report’s Team Stream App, CBS Sports App, Amazon Appstore, the App Store, Roku Channel Store, Windows Store and Google Play.
As part of the industry-wide TV Everywhere initiative, pay-tv subscribers will have unlimited live streaming coverage and on-the-go access throughout the entire championship across online, mobile, tablets, set-top boxes and smart TVs. NCAA March Madness Live will once again offer a temporary preview period giving users access to live game streaming before login is required.
Fans can access all games broadcast on CBS with no registration required on desktop, mobile and tablets. Additionally, fans can watch games via live streaming on TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV’s digital platforms, as well as participating TV provider websites and apps.
New for the 2016 NCAA March Madness Live:
- Platform expansion – This year’s product will expand to 12 platforms – more than ever before –including desktop, Amazon Fire tablets, Amazon Fire TV, iPhone, iPad, Android handset, Android tablet, Windows handset, Windows desktop, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Roku players and Roku TV models. Exclusively for NCAA March Madness Live, fans watching via Apple TV can enjoy two live games at once with the Split Screen feature.
- GameCenter – The epicenter of NCAA March Madness Live has been re-engineered to provide fans with an immersive live video experience featuring improved navigation, Google Cast and Airplay support and more curated social content from the Coke Zero™ NCAA March Madness Social arena.
- Video on Demand – This year’s enhanced video on demand capabilities allows fans to access classic tournament moments, match-up analysis, game previews, top plays, featured videos and more.
- Capital One NCAA March Madness Bracket Challenge – This year, the official bracket game of March Madness – available via desktop, smartphones and tablets – is upgrading with new game features and more tools to help fans make their bracket picks as well as a chance to enter into a sweepstakes to attend the 2017 Final Four® in Phoenix. In addition, this is the only bracket game to integrate access to the live video stream of every match-up during the tournament.
Additional NCAA March Madness Live content will include “excitement” alerts for big moments throughout the tournament, as well as fan-favorite features including live game scoring, the official bracket, real-time game alerts for their favorite school, the Coke Zero NCAA March Madness Social Arena and personal channel lineup features. Fans will also have direct access to live radio broadcasts, courtesy of Westwood One, for all 67 games across the collection of digital products.
For the NCAA Final Four National Semifinals on Saturday, April 2, from Houston, NCAA March Madness Live will provide three distinct live video streams of both games to provide unprecedented viewing options for fans – live streaming of the traditional game coverage provided on TBS, along with “Team Stream by Bleacher Report” coverage or team-specific presentations offered via TNT and truTV. This year’s NCAA Tournament will include the National Championship airing on TBS, the first time the championship has ever been televised on cable television.
NCAA March Madness Live Sponsors
Co-presenting sponsors for NCAA March Madness Live are NCAA Corporate Champions AT&T, Capital One and Coke Zero. Additionally, Buick, Capital One and Coke Zero™ will sponsor the NCAA March Madness Live App for iPhone and iPad, while AT&T, Capital One and Infiniti will sponsor the Android app. Also, Capital One will sponsor the Roku app and AT&T will serve as sponsor for the Windows app. Buick and Infiniti are NCAA Corporate Partners.
About the NCAA
The NCAA is a diverse association of more than 1,100 member colleges and universities that prioritize academics, well-being and fairness to create greater opportunities for nearly a half a million student-athletes each year. The NCAA provides a pathway to higher education and beyond for student-athletes pursuing academic goals and competing in NCAA sports. More than 54,000 student-athletes experience the pinnacle of intercollegiate athletics by competing in NCAA championships each year. Visit www.ncaa.org and www.ncaa.com for more details about the Association and the corporate partnerships that support the NCAA and its student-athletes. The NCAA is proud to have the following elite companies as official Corporate Champions—AT&T, Capital One and Coca-Cola—and the following elite companies as official Corporate Partners—Allstate, Amazon Echo, Bing (Microsoft), Buffalo Wild Wings, Buick, Enterprise, Infiniti, LG, Lowe’s, Nabisco, Northwestern Mutual, Reese’s, Unilever and UPS.
About Turner Sports
Turner Sports, a division of Turner, is an industry leader in the delivery of premium sports content across all multimedia screens. Turner Sports’ television coverage includes the NBA, Major League Baseball, NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, ELEAGUE, boxing and professional golf. The company also manages some of the most popular sports destinations across broadband and mobile platforms including Bleacher Report and its top-rated Team Stream app, NCAA.com and the critically-acclaimed NCAA March Madness Live suite of products, PGA.com and the Sports Emmy Award-winning PGA Championship LIVE, as well as an accompanying collection of mobile sites and connected device apps. Turner Sports and the NBA also jointly manage NBA Digital, a robust collection of offerings including NBA TV, NBA.com, NBA LEAGUE PASS, NBA Mobile, the NBA App, NBADLEAGUE.com and WNBA.com.
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