How to Watch March Madness Live Online, Plus Which Games Are Free

• Michigan (No. 4) vs. VCU (No. 5)
  Saturday, March 23, 12:15 p.m. ET
• Memphis (No. 6) vs. Michigan State (No. 3)
  Saturday, March 23, 2:45  p.m. ET
• Colorado State (No. 8 ) vs. Louisville (No. 1)
  Saturday, March 23, 5:15 p.m. ET
• Butler (No. 6) vs. Marquette (No. 3)
  Saturday, March 23, 7:45 p.m. ET
• Iowa State (No. 10) vs. Ohio State (No. 2)
  Sunday, March 24, 12:15 p.m. ET
• Temple (No. 9) vs. Indiana (No. 1)
  Sunday, March 24, 2:45  p.m. ET
• North Carolina (No. 8 ) vs. Kansas (No. 1)
  Sunday, March 24, 5:15 p.m. ET

Remember the glory days of 2007-2011 when you could watch March Madness online for free? Those days are over. Some games are still free to watch in the 2013 NCAA men’s basketball tournament, but nearly two-thirds of this year’s NCAA tournament games will only be available online to viewers with an active cable TV subscription. Last year, basketball fans who didn’t have a cable subscription could still stream all the tournament games for the low fee of $3.99 – but that affordable “no cable” option has been eliminated for 2013. Effective this year, the only way to legally live stream your choice of any and all NCAA tournament games is through cable verification. Let’s take a look at which March Madness games you can watch without a cable subscription, and which games require cable authentication to access the live online stream.

Workplace productivity will grind to a halt when the 68-team basketball tournament tips off on Tuesday, March 19 with the First Round (formerly known as the “play-in games”). These “First Four” games will be played Tuesday and Wednesday nights during evening hours, and they’ll be broadcast on a cable network called truTV. That means you won’t be able to watch them online without a cable subscription. When the Second Round tips off on Thursday, March 21 at 12:15 p.m. ET, we’ll enter the real March Madness — a binge of overlapping, simultaneous games being played during regular workplace business hours. Several games will be available to stream for free, regardless of whether you have cable. Here are this year’s new rules for watching March Madness online, to help you plan which weekday games you can watch on the sly while stuck at work, or on the go during weekend hours.

WATCH 2013 NCAA MARCH MADNESS ON DEMAND

This year’s tournament is being carried across four different TV networks – CBS, and cable channels TBS, TNT, and truTV. Every tournament game is being streamed online at the NCAA’s March Madness Live site, but only CBS’ games are available to all online viewers for free. The other game streams will require cable subscription authentication, similar to the login process required to watch ESPN online. That means you’ll need to login with a username and password associated with an active cable TV account. It’s important to note that you only get live games from TBS, TNT, and truTV if your cable service provider actually carries the station. For instance, if you don’t have truTV as part of your cable package, you cannot access games carried on truTV.

Games being aired on CBS will play automatically when you visit the March Madness Live site at game time. If you don’t have cable, you can still watch some of the restricted March Madness games. The NCAA will give you a four-hour “grace period” called a live video pass, allowing you four free hours of tournament action carried on cable channels other than CBS. You can even take advantage of a separate, additional four-hour grace period on your mobile device. Watching CBS games online will not count against your four free hours, and the video player will alert you to how much free game viewing time you have remaining.

All games will be available to watch on demand after their completion, though, regardless of which network carried the game – no cable subscription required.  So you can re-live those Cinderella moments your little-known alma mater may have turned in. Additionally, you can listen to March Madness live for free, courtesy of Dial Global Sports (formerly Westwood One), which will stream audio of all March Madness games over the web for free.

WHICH MARCH MADNESS GAMES ARE AVAILABLE ONLINE FOR FREE

Let’s say you don’t have a cable TV subscription, but you still want to watch NCAA tournament games live online. All games carried on the CBS network will be available live online for free, and we’ve listed these free games below. (Note: The game line-up will change constantly with each passing day of the tournament, and we can only list upcoming games in which we know the start time and teams scheduled to compete in that game). The Elite Eight, Final Four, and NCAA Championship Games will all be available live online for free courtesy CBS.

• Michigan State (No. 3) vs. Valparaiso (No. 14)
  Thursday, March 21, 12:15 p.m. ET

• Memphis (No. 6) vs. (Winner of Middle Tennessee vs. St. Mary’s First Round game)
   Thursday, March 21, 2:45 p.m. ET

• Michigan (No. 4) vs. South Dakota State (No. 13)
  Thursday, March 21, 7:15 p.m. ET

• Virginia Commonwealth (No. 5) vs. Akron (No. 12)
  Thursday, March 21, 9:45 p.m. ET

• Duke (No. 2) vs. Albany (No. 15)
  Friday, March 22, 12:15 p.m. ET

• Creighton (No. 7) vs. Cincinnati (No. 10)
  Friday, March 22, 2:45 p.m. ET

• Ohio State (No. 2) vs. Iona (No. 15)
  Friday, March 22, 7:15 p.m. ET

• Notre Dame (No. 7) vs. Iowa State (No. 10)
  Friday, March 22, 9:45 p.m. ET

FOLLOW THE ACTION WITH THE MARCH MADNESS BRACKET – UPDATED

Now that the NCAA basketball conference games have been played, the March Madness line-up is just about complete. The excitement of the tournament heats up as each game is played and teams slowly progress to the next round. One of the easiest ways to follow the action at a glance is the bracket that tracks the matches and game winners. We’ll be updating the bracket as the games are played, so be sure to check back to see if there are any Cinderella stories emerging.

WATCH MARCH MADNESS ON TABLET OR SMARTPHONE

March Madness is the ultimate second screen viewing sports event – particularly during the Second Round, when four games are often being played simultaneously at different arenas. You can stream the games live on your iPad, iPhone, or Android device with March Madness Live app for iOS or March Madness Live for Android, allowing you to second screen an additional game on your mobile device. The March Madness Live app is free, but still requires cable authentication to watch live streams of games broadcast on networks other than CBS. The March Madness Live app also has the four-hour free pass to watch the cable networks’ games without a subscription, and delivers the free live audio streams of any and all tournament games.

Are you ready to binge on marathon basketball-watching sessions for days on end? Who are your picks to win, or to serve as this year’s tournament Cinderella? How do you plan on divvying up your four precious “grace period” hours? Bust the brackets with your opinions in the comments section below.