No. 14 seed Oakland became the story of the first round thanks to their thrilling upset of Kentucky. Now they look to continue the magic today against a red-hot NC State squad. The Wolfpack have won six in a row after their thrashing of No. 6 Texas Tech on Thursday, but they’ll need to find a way to slow down Jack Gohlke and Co. if they want to make their first Sweet 16 since 2015.
This one is about to begin, at 7:10 p.m. ET, and will be televised on TBS/truTV. Fortunately, if you don’t have cable you want to watch March Madness online, there are a bevy of ways you can watch a live stream of Oakland vs NC State for free.
Of all of the live-TV streaming services that include TBS and/or truTV, there are only two that offer a free trial: YouTube TV and DirecTV Stream. After signing up, each will let you watch for five days before you need to either cancel your subscription or pay for the first month.
Both of these also include CBS (live in most markets) and TNT, giving you every channel you need to watch every tournament game. That means, if you time things correctly, you could use one streaming service for the remainder of this weekend’s Round of 32 games, and then try out the other streaming service for next week’s Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games without ever having to pay anything.
A third free option if you just want to watch this game is the March Madness Live app or website. You can actually watch every game of the tourney this way if you’re able to sign in with a cable provider. Of course, even if you don’t have that, you can watch for three hours–enough to watch Oakland vs NC State barring several overtimes–without signing in.
If you’ve already used up all your free trials and previews, the cheapest way to watch the game is with a subscription to Max, which has every truTV, TBS and TNT game. Though there’s no free trial, it costs just $10 per month, and a single month will get you through the entire tournament.
The second-cheapest long-term option would be Sling TV. The “Sling Orange” channel plan costs just $30 for your first month ($40 per month after that) and includes both TNT and TBS, while the “Entertainment Extra” add-on is another $6 per month and will get you truTV.
If you want to watch any of those streaming services from outside of the United States, you’ll need NordVPN or some other VPN service. Once signed up, you’ll use your VPN to hide your IP address and connect to a digital server located in the US. This allows you to operate online as if you were actually in the country, getting you around the location-blocks that all of those streaming services have.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.