How to watch March Madness 2023: Your streaming options compared

With Paramount+, you can watch some, but not all, of March Madness. Only the CBS games are available on this streaming service.

Paramount+, formerly CBS All Access, offers two plans. The first is an ad-supported Essential plan for $5 per month and an ad-free Premium plan for $10 per month. You can’t, however, see the men’s games on TBS, TNT, or TruTV, or any of the women’s games on it. Still, if you like CBS shows, and for some reason, you can’t get CBS on your main streaming services, or you’re a serious Star Trek fan, it’s worth the money.  

Also: The beginner’s guide to the Star Trek: What to watch first

One thing you should know going in is that Paramount Plus doesn’t have a cloud DVR service. You’ll need to watch the games in real time. 

DirecTV Stream has gone through a number of name changes. In the past, it’s been AT&T TV, AT&T TV Now, and DirecTV Now. Whatever you call it, you’ll get CBS, TBS, TNT, and TruTV on even its cheapest level, the $75 Entertainment package.

 For the women’s games, this package includes ESPN and ESPN2. But, if your favorite team isn’t one of the top teams, its games may be on ESPNU or ESPNews. To get those, you’ll need to upgrade to the $100 DirecTV Stream Choice package. 

On the plus side, DirecTV Stream now comes with generous unlimited Cloud DVR storage. At home, you can watch the game, or any other show, on up to two streaming devices at once. Away from home, you can share your stream with three other devices. 

FuboTV is all about sports. But it’s not, I’m sorry to say, a great choice for March Madness. While its starter plan, Pro, has over 100 channels and 1,000 hours of cloud DVR storage for $80 a month, it only includes CBS and ESPN. It doesn’t offer TBS, TNT, and TruTV. You may have heard rumors that these Turner Network channels would be returning, but there turned out to be nothing to those tales, 

For NCAA Women March Madness watchers, to catch every game, you’ll need to get the Fubo Elite package, which includes ESPNews and ESPNU, for $85 a month.

To watch these games later, FuboTV’s cloud DVR service comes with a free 1,000 hours.  

Hulu with Live TV’s combination of on-demand video and live TV is nice, and it also comes with Disney+ and ESPN+ bundled. For $83 a month, you’ll get your local CBS channel, TBS, TNT, and truTV. With the ESPN+ bundle, you can get all of the 2023 March Madness games.

Another plus is you can store an unlimited number of videos in your cloud DVR archive for up to nine months. 

Sling TV’s à la carte approach to channels separates it from its competitors. 

While the others tend to offer only two to four packages, Sling TV offers two basic packages — Blue and Orange — and a wide variety of packages bundling up to a dozen-related channels. However, CBS isn’t in any of them.  For those games, you’ll need an antenna for your local CBS channel or a Paramount+ subscription. 

Sling TV’s $40-a-month Blue plan includes TBS, TNT, and TruTV. If you want the women’s tournament as well, you’ll need Sling TV’s Orange plan. You can get this paired package at $30 for your first month and $50 monthly thereafter. Sling Orange and Blue will enable you to watch games on TBS, TNT, truTV, and the main ESPN channels. For the less well-known ESPN channels, you’ll need the Sports Extra package for $11 a month.

To watch these games later, Sling TV’s default cloud DVR offers 50 hours for free.  If you need more — and who doesn’t? — you can upgrade to 200 hours for $5 a month.

With over 100 channels, YouTube TV offers more of the most popular channels than its competitors. YouTube TV costs $65 monthly and includes all the relevant ESPN channels, CBS, TBS, TNT, and TruTV. 

By CNET’s count, out of the top 100 networks, YouTube TV offers the most — 79 — of any streaming service.

Also: Did your TV streaming bill just go up again? Here’s why I chose YouTube TV

YouTubeTV also has unlimited cloud storage. And you get six accounts to share with your household. For this, you’ll pay $55 for your first three months and then $65 monthly. You can use this service on three screens at once.