NCAA March Madness Selection Sunday: Here’s How To Watch the Men’s and Women’s Team Selection Events Online
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March Madness is finally here! Although the three-week long college basketball single-elimination tournament doesn’t start play until Tuesday, Mar. 19 for Men’s and Wednesday, Mar. 20 for Women’s, it all begins with the team selection event to reveal the March Madness brackets.
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The top 68 teams in both Men’s and Women’s NCAA Division I Basketball unveils on Sunday, Mar. 17.
How to Watch NCAA March Madness Selection Sunday: Date, Time
NCAA March Madness Selection Sunday airs on Sunday, Mar. 17 at 3 p.m. PT/6 p.m. ET for Men’s College Basketball and 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET for Women’s College Basketball. The selection is live-streaming on CBS and ESPN, respectively.
Cord-cutters can watch through any live TV streaming service that carries CBS and ESPN, such as DirecTV Stream, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV and others. Sign up for a seven-day free trial from Fubo to watch it for free. All web-based services are accessible on your smartphone, tablet, laptop or smart TV.
Keep reading to find out how to watch both NCAA March Madness Selection Sunday events with and without a cable subscription, including more details on how to watch for free.
How to Watch NCAA March Madness Selection Sunday Without Cable: Stream Online Free
While the NCAA March Madness Selection Sunday broadcasts on TV with CBS for Men’s College Basketball and ESPN for Women’s College Basketball, the events can also be streamed on internet-based streaming cable services, some of which even offer free trials. If you act fast and sign up now, you can watch online for free.
BEST FOR PARAMOUNT NETWORK CONTENT
Paramount+
Packages from $5.99 per month
Paramount+ has a livestream of the Men’s College Basketball Selection Sunday for March Madness via CBS Sports, and you can watch the matches for free when you sign up for a seven-day free trial.
Afterward, you can either cancel the streaming service altogether or you can keep watching the women’s soccer matches on Paramount+ for $5.99 per month for the basic ad-supported plan. If you want to go ad-free, the Paramount+ with Showtime package is $11.99 per month. Meanwhile, you can save 16 percent on your Paramount+ subscription when you sign up for an annual package ($60 or $120 per year, respectively).
Subscriptions come with access to thousands of hours of movies and TV series, including Mean Girls: The Musical, Halo, the entire Star Trek franchise, Yellowstone prequel show 1883 and more.
BEST FOR AMAZON PRIME MEMBERS
Paramount+ on Prime Video
$11.99 per month plus Prime or Prime Video subscription fees
Paramount+ is also available as an add-on channel on Prime Video. Amazon Prime members and new subscribers can get a free seven-day trial for Paramount+ on Prime Video ($8.99 per month for the standalone service); after that, it auto-renews at $11.99 per month in addition to the Prime or Prime Video membership fees.
Not a Prime member? Sign up for a 30-day free trial to take advantage of all that Amazon Prime has to offer, including access to Prime Video; fast same-, next-, or two-day free shipping; in-store discounts at Whole Foods Market, access to exclusive shopping events — like Prime Day and Black Friday — and more.
BEST STREAMING SERVICE OVERALL
DirecTV Stream
Packages from $64.99 per month
Watch NCAA March Madness Selection Sunday on CBS and ESPN with DirecTV Stream. Both networks are offered on all of the cable alternative’s packages, and the service includes more than 75 other channels — such as NBC, ABC, Fox, AMC, Bravo, CNBC, Disney Channel and others.
Pricing starts as low as $69.99 for the entry-level Entertainment package. In addition, other plans offer between 105-150 channels with prices ranging from $84.99 to $159.99 per month. New subscribers can receive a Visa rewards card worth up to $300 for a limited time. Learn more about the offer here.
BEST VALUE
Fubo
Packages from $74.99 per month
If you’d like to watch NCAA March Madness Selection Sunday live on CBS and ESPN — along with more than 170 other news, entertainment and sports channels — go with a subscription to Fubo. The streaming service starts at $59.99 per month for the first month ($79.99 per month afterward), while you can record more than 1,000 hours of TV shows, movies, games and more. Fubo is available to watch on your smartphone, tablet or TV too.
Additionally, other plans include the Elite package (with more than 250 channels for $69.99 per month for the first month, then $89.99 per month) and the Premier tier that comes with nearly 300 channels, NFL RedZone, Showtime and 4K quality for $79.99 per month for the first month, then $99.99 per month.
If you want to watch Selection Sunday for free, the online TV streaming service offers a seven-day free trial for new subscribers.
BEST LIVE TV STREAMING BUNDLE
Hulu + Live TV
Packages from $76.99
You can also livestream NCAA March Madness Selection Sunday online without cable with a Hulu + Live TV subscription. It includes access to over 90 live channels — like CBS and ESPN for both Selection Sunday events, as well as AMC, BET, CNN, ESPN, Food Network and others — starting at $76.99 monthly. The service also comes with Hulu’s entire streaming library, Disney+ and ESPN+ at no additional cost.
With a subscription, Hulu + Live TV users can watch originals from Hulu, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilms (Star Wars, Indiana Jones), The Muppets Studio and Pixar Animation. Subscribers can also watch ESPN+ for original sports programming and live sports from Formula 1 and the NHL, MLB and other sports leagues. It includes unlimited cloud DVR too. Unfortunately, Hulu doesn’t offer a free trial at this time.
BEST BUDGET-FRIENDLY
Sling
Packages from $20 for the first month
Sling is one of the cheapest options for new live TV streaming subscribers who want to watch NCAA March Madness Selection Sunday for Women’s College Basketball online. The Sling Orange plan is only $20 per month for the first month ($40 per month afterward) and includes ESPN as part of its offerings.
Unfortunately, Sling doesn’t carry CBS for Men’s College Basketball Selection Sunday. However, Sling Orange also features The Disney Channel, ESPN, FreeForm, AMC, BBC America and much more.
How to Watch NCAA March Madness Selection Sunday on TV
Want to watch NCAA March Madness Selection Sunday on TV? The events broadcast live on CBS for Men’s College Basketball and ESPN for Women’s College Basketball.
This means you can watch on TV through your cable TV provider; on CBSSports.com and ESPN.com; or the CBS Sports and ESPN mobile apps with your cable TV account credentials.
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