ATLANTA—It’s the most wonderful time of the year for college basketball fans, as March Madness is officially upon us and this year, fans will have more ways to watch all the games of the NCAA Tournament. NCAA March Madness Live—the live streaming suite of products from Turner Sports, in partnership with CBS and the NCAA—will cover all 67 games of this year’s tournament across 16 platforms, more than any previous year, per Turner’s press release.
March Madness Live will be available on fans’ iPhones, iPads, Apple TV, Apple Watch Android handset, Android tablet, Amazon Echo family of devices, Amazon Fire tablets, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Samsung Gear VR and Google Daydream, mobile web, Roku players, Roku TV models, web and Xbox One.
In addition to the expanded availability, the March Madness Live suite also has a number of new features with the goal of improving the users viewing experience. The new “Fast Break” feature, presented by AT&T and Lowe’s, offers live streaming whip-around coverage of every tournament game during the first Thursday and Friday of tournament action. The feature will switch from game-to-game with live look-ins, highlights and commentary.
Apple TV users will be able to watch up to three live games at once through a new multi-game viewing experience available through the March Madness Live app for Apple TV. Also, select games will be offered in virtual reality via March Madness Live VR powered by Intel True VR and available in the Oculus Store and Google Play store; specific details about what games will be available in VR will be announced closer to the tournament.
Other features looking to boost fan experience include an enhanced Capitol One NCAA March Madness Bracket Challenge Game, which will provide push notifications for live games and keep them updated on their picks, as well as Bracket IQ, which will offer analysis for game picks. Additional “excitement alerts” will be delivered for big alerts and for access to live radio broadcaster from Westwood One.
Turner’s iStreamPlanet provides the live streaming infrastructure for all games on March Madness Live. Games this year will be available at up to 60fps on Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Roku and Xbox.
The NCAA Tournament will be broadcast on CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV, while also being offered on the companies’ digital platforms.
The 2018 NCAA Tournament will take place from March 13 to April 2.
