March Madness has finally arrived– and thanks to new streaming service options, cord-cutters have more ways to watch than ever before. Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV all have streaming apps that will let you watch college basketball. The question is: which streaming service is right for your particular March Madness needs? Read on to find out what’s available on all three TV device platforms.
How to Watch March Madness on Roku
The two best ways to watch March Madness on Roku are fuboTV and Sling TV. Here’s a detailed look at how the two streaming services compare.
The best all-around option: fuboTV
One of the biggest advantages that fuboTV has over the competition is the fact that it carries all the March Madness tournament games. Other streaming services have coverage gaps that you’ll have to fill by using your TV antenna or by going to a sports bar for certain games. Another major perk is 4K streaming. The other streaming services don’t offer any 4K streams at all, but fuboTV does. Big Ten Network, Fox, Fox Sports 1, NBCSN and several other channels now broadcast in 4K. That makes fuboTV the clear leader when it comes to picture quality.
Channels and pricing
Last year, fuboTV only provided partial March Madness coverage. But this year, the streaming service expanded its coverage to include all the tournament games. The $45/month base subscription comes with 90+ channels, including all the channels you need to tune into March Madness. For $5 more, you can upgrade to fubo Extra and get 110+ channels.
Features
As mentioned above, no other streaming service offers the ability to stream in 4K. Not all the channels support 4K, but the ones that do are sports channels. Some other channels stream in 720p, 1080p or in standard definition. Roku devices that support fuboTV’s 4K streams include Roku Premier, Roku Premier+, RokuTV 4K and Roku Ultra.
Another benefit of fuboTV is its excellent TV Everywhere support. Your fuboTV credentials will unlock a wide variety of sports apps, like FOX Sports Go, beIN SPORTS CONNECT, the Olympic Channel app, Big Ten Network Go and NBC Sports. You can use these apps to circumvent fuboTV’s somewhat restrictive two-screen-at-a-time simultaneous stream limit.
Related: FuboTV Review for 2018 – Sports With A Side Of Basic Cable Channels
Runner-up: Sling TV
The main March Madness games will be carried by four channels: TNT, TBS, TruTV and CBS. You can get all but one of those channels through Sling TV for just $40 a month
Channels and pricing
Sling TV offers two base plans: Sling Orange and Sling Blue. Both plans cost $25, but Sling Blue has better March Madness coverage because it comes with TNT, TBS and TruTV. Sling Orange comes with TNT, TBS and several ESPN channels– but not TruTV. On the other hand, you can get TruTV with Sling Orange if you get the $5/month Comedy add-on pack. Alternatively, you can get both Sling Orange and Sling Blue together for $40.
Sling TV doesn’t carry any CBS affiliates, but you can get a live feed of CBS by either subscribing to CBS All Access ($6 per month) or by connecting a TV antenna to your Roku device.
* You get 1 stream for Sling Orange channels and up to 3 simultaneous streams for Sling Blue channels.
Sling Orange
Great Value
$40.00/ month
Try Sling
Sling Blue
Great Value$40.00/ month
Try Sling
Sling Orange + Blue
Best Value
$55.00/ month
Try Sling
Features
Sling TV’s features are somewhat weak in comparison to what other streaming services offer. There’s a cloud DVR, but you can’t record any Sling Orange channels with it– and you have to pay $5 extra each month to unlock it, as well. You can only stream Sling Blue channels to two devices simultaneously– and you can’t watch Sling Orange channels at all if someone else in your house has already tuned in.
One good thing about Sling TV’s feature set is that the streaming service supports a large variety of different TV Everywhere apps. beIN SPORTS CONNECT, NFL Network, FOX NOW, NBC Sports and WatchESPN are just a few sports-related TV Everywhere apps that Sling TV credentials can unlock.
How to Watch March Madness on Apple TV
Our two favorite streaming services for Roku– fuboTV and Sling TV– are also available on Apple TV.
The best all-around option: fuboTV
The Apple TV version of fuboTV has all the same features as the Roku app, including support for 4K streams (Apple TV 4K only) and full coverage of all the March Madness tournament games.
Channels and pricing
This year marks the first time that fuboTV will broadcast all the March Madness games. fuboTV’s cheapest plan costs $45 per month and comes with over 90 channels. Roughly half of those are sports channels. fubo Extra costs $5 more each month and comes with around twenty extra channels.
Features
As mentioned earlier, you’ll need an Apple TV 4K to get the most out of fuboTV’s 4K channels. Older Apple TV devices can still play the 4K channels, but they won’t look quite as nice.
fuboTV has equally good support for TV Everywhere apps compared to Sling TV. Once you subscribe, you can use your fuboTV credentials to get the most out of FOX Sports Go, beIN SPORTS CONNECT, the Olympic Channel app, Big Ten Network Go, NBC Sports and more.
As is the case when you use fuboTV on Roku, you’ll have to make do with fuboTV’s two-screen simultaneous streaming limit. There’s a workaround for that clamp on account sharing, though: TV Everywhere. Any TV Everywhere-compatible apps you unlock with your fuboTV credentials will not count against your two-device limit.
Related: FuboTV Review for 2018 – Sports With A Side Of Basic Cable Channels
Runner-up: Sling TV
Sling TV is cheap and carries all the cable channels that carry March Madness broadcasts: TNT, TBS and TruTV. You’ll need to find some other way to get the games that CBS broadcasts, though.
Channels and pricing
All Sling TV subscribers must subscribe to at least one base subscription package. There are two of these to choose from Sling Blue and Sling Orange. Sling Orange has more feature restrictions, but comes with TNT, TBS and several ESPN channels. TruTV is also available with Sling Orange, but you have to buy the $5 Comedy add-on to get it. Sling Blue lacks all the ESPN channels, but comes with TNT, TBS and TruTV.
Unfortunately, there’s no way to plug a TV antenna directly into your Apple TV. That might make tuning into CBS games a bit more difficult. Fortunately, there are some workarounds available. HDHomeRun makes a TV device that can help you stream CBS and other live over-the-air channels straight to your Apple TV. Alternatively, you can get the CBS live feed on your Apple TV by subscribing to CBS All Access for $6 per month.
* You get 1 stream for Sling Orange channels and up to 3 simultaneous streams for Sling Blue channels.
Sling Orange
Great Value
$40.00/ month
Try Sling
Sling Blue
Great Value$40.00/ month
Try Sling
Sling Orange + Blue
Best Value
$55.00/ month
Try Sling
Features
Sling TV’s features are mediocre. You have to pay $5 extra each month to record TV. Even with the cloud DVR upgrade, you can’t record any Sling Orange channels. Another downside of Orange channels is that you can only stream them to one device at a time. You can stream all the Blue channels to two devices at once, though.
beIN SPORTS CONNECT, NFL Network, FOX NOW, NBC Sports and WatchESPN can all be unlocked with your Sling TV credentials. Using the TV Everywhere TV apps instead of the Sling TV app will give you more flexibility if you have a large family, since those apps won’t count against your account sharing limits.
How to Watch March Madness on Amazon Fire TV
The same two streaming services mentioned above are also dominating the Amazon app store. fuboTV and Sling TV are your two best options if you own an Amazon Fire TV device.
The best all-around option: fuboTV
fuboTV is the only streaming service that currently supports 4K streams. That’s why it makes a lot of sense to subscribe if you own one of the newer 4K-capable Fire TV devices. Even if your Fire TV device doesn’t support 4K, you can still watch every single March Madness game.
Channels and pricing
fuboTV made a big push to reel in college basketball fans this year. You can stream every single tournament game through this unique sports-centric streaming service. The base plan costs $45 and includes all the channels you need to watch all the games. There are 90 channels in all with that plan. You can get around 20 more channels by upgrading to fubo Extra, which costs $50.
Features
In order to get the most out of fuboTV’s 4K channels, you’ll need a Fire TV Cube or Fire TV 4K. You can still watch fuboTV’s 4K channels if you don’t have a 4K device.
Once you subscribe to fuboTV, you’ll be able to unlock a slew of sports apps, including FOX Sports Go, beIN SPORTS CONNECT, the Olympic Channel app, Big Ten Network Go, NBC Sports and others.
The main downside of fuboTV when it comes to features is its restrictive account sharing limit. You can only stream to two devices through one account at the same time, unless you use TV Everywhere apps to bypass those restrictions.
Related: FuboTV Review for 2018 – Sports With A Side Of Basic Cable Channels
Runner-up: Sling TV
Sling TV carries TNT, TBS and TruTV– the three main cable channels that broadcast March Madness games. CBS isn’t on the menu, but if you have a TV antenna that won’t be that much of a problem.
Channels and pricing
Everyone who subscribes to Sling TV has to get at least one base subscription. There are two base subscriptions available: Sling Blue and Sling Orange. Sling Blue costs $25 and comes with TNT, TBS and TruTV– so it’s the cheapest way to go. Sling Orange has TNT and TBS, but you have to get the $5/month Comedy add-on pack if you want TruTV as well. You can also get both base subscriptions for $40 per month– but for that amount of money, you may as well get fuboTV instead and get all the March Madness games.
Once you get Sling TV, you’ll need to find an alternative way to get March Madness games that appear on CBS. Though there’s no way to plug a TV antenna directly into an Amazon Fire TV, its software can import over-the-air TV feeds. All you need to do that is an antenna attached to your TV set. Another way to get CBS is by downloading the CBS All Access app. You have to pay $6 per month to gain access to the live feed.
* You get 1 stream for Sling Orange channels and up to 3 simultaneous streams for Sling Blue channels.
Sling Orange
Great Value
$40.00/ month
Try Sling
Sling Blue
Great Value$40.00/ month
Try Sling
Sling Orange + Blue
Best Value
$55.00/ month
Try Sling
Features
Sling TV has more feature restrictions compared to fuboTV and most other streaming services. The cloud DVR costs an additional $5 per month and it won’t record Sling Orange content. Account sharing restrictions will stop you from streaming to more than one screen at a time when you watch Sling Orange channels. The simultaneous streaming limit for Sling Blue channels is two devices.
Alex Munkachy is a freelance writer, game developer and hobby robotics enthusiast. You can find his blog about robotics news and reviews at robotfanatics.com.
