We’re down to the Final Four teams left in the 2024 NCAA men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments. With March Madness winding down with the final games, here’s a look at the best ways to watch the Final Four and championship games for free through this weekend. That includes a list of the best streaming services that have free trials, or promotional deals, for new customers looking to avoid paying for cable.
• You can watch every Final Four game of March Madness live for free with DirecTV Stream (free trial), or watch the rest of both basketball tournaments on the cheap with Sling (promotional offers, cheapest streaming plans) paired with an HDTV antenna, if you don’t have one already.
Where can I watch the Final Four for free? What networks or TV channels are the 2024 NCAA Tournament championships on?
All men’s NCAA Tournament basketball games from the Final Four through the national championship game will be airing on Turner networks including channels like TNT, TBS and Tru TV. The men’s basketball Final Four and national championship game will air primarily on TBS.
All of the women’s NCAA Tournament games will be airing on ESPN networks including channels like on ESPN, ESPN2 or on your local ABC affiliate TV station. For example, the women’s NCAA tournament Final Four will air on ESPN and the national championship game will air on ABC.
You can find out more about which channels ESPN, ABC and TBS are on in your area by using the channel finders here: Comcast Xfinity, DIRECTV, Dish, Verizon Fios, Spectrum/Charter, Optimum/Altice.
If you want to watch the women’s title game for free, you can watch the broadcast live locally on your ABC affiliate (channel finder above) with the help of an over-the-air HDTV antenna if you have one already, or one is built into your TV or display. If you need to get one now, this Gesobyte brand HDTV antenna is currently the top selling HDTV antenna product on Amazon. It goes for under $30 and ships in one day if you have Amazon Prime. If you don’t have it already, sign up for a Prime free trial.
Where can I stream March Madness basketball live for free without cable? Which service is best?
• There is only one streaming service that will have every game of the men’s and women’s tournaments, which is DirecTV Stream. It has a seven-day free trial and is the best service to sign up with for college hoops this month since it carries all of the channels that will broadcast men’s NCAA tournament games. You can watch the title games for free and then decide if it’s worth paying for one month of access to watch the NFL draft, NBA playoffs and more sports events coming in April.
• The second best option for watching the men’s and women’s NCAA tournament is Sling, which is running a half-off your first month promotional offer and has the cheapest overall streaming plans. However, if you go this route, you will need to purchase an HDTV antennae if you don’t have one already. This way, you won’t miss the women’s title game being broadcast on ABC, which is not included in the Sling streaming service.
Finally, if you only care about women’s Final Four and championship games, you can watch also watch those games for free with Fubo (free trial). Unfortunately, Fubo does not carry Turner networks, so you won’t be able to watch the men’s basketball Final Four and championship games that are being broadcast on TBS.
When do the Final Four and championship games happen? What is the schedule of games?
The NCAA women’s basketball tournament resumes with the Final Four starting on Friday, April 5 at 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET and the men’s tournament resumes starting Saturday, April 6 at 3:09 p.m. PT/6:09 p.m. ET. Here’s a look at the complete schedule for the rest of both the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments.
Men’s NCAA Tournament Schedule
Final Four: Saturday, April 6
(1) Purdue vs. (11) NC State | 3:09 p.m. PT | TBS/TNT/Tru TV
(1) UConn vs. (4) Alabama | 5:49 p.m. PT | TBS/TNT/Tru TV
NCAA championship game: Monday, April 8
TBD vs. TBD 6:20 p.m. PT | TBS/TNT/Tru TV
Women’s NCAA Tournament Schedule
Final Four: Friday, April 5
(1) South Carolina vs. (3) NC State | 4 p.m. | ESPN
(1) Iowa vs. (3) UConn | 6:30 p.m. | ESPN
NCAA championship game: Sunday, April 7
TBD vs. TBD 12 p.m. PT | ABC
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