It’s time for the NCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship. Here’s how to watch Purdue and UConn, two 1-seed teams, face off in the final game.
The National Championship is about to start, at 9:20 p.m. ET today, Monday, April 8, and it will be televised on TBS. But if you don’t have cable, there are still some ways you can watch a live stream of the men’s national championship for free.
You can watch a live stream of TBS and 70-plus other channels via either YouTube TV‘s “Base Plan” or DirecTV Stream‘s “Entertainment” plan. These are more expensive long-term than any of the other options we cover below, but they’re the only ones that comes with a free trial. With both services, you can watch for free for five days before either cancelling or paying for your first month.
If you haven’t used the March Madness Live app/website yet, you can also watch a live stream of the game for free there. You typically need to sign in to a cable provider in order to watch this way, but you first get a free three-hour preview, which should be plenty of time to watch the game.
Outside of free trials, Max is the cheapest way to watch a live stream of the game. A subscription to Max costs just $10 per month, and while the game is technically a part of the B/R Sports add-on, that’s currently included with Max at no extra cost. You don’t need to do anything special with your subscription, either. It’s just there.
Not only will you be able to watch the national championship, but you can also watch any NBA game that is televised on TNT or TBS. And with the playoffs right around the corner, that makes this the perfect time to snag a month or two of Max.
For another cheap option, you can check out Sling TV. Though it doesn’t include a free trial, the “Sling Orange” channel package is currently on sale for just $20 for your first month (and then up to $40 per month thereafter).
This, of course, includes TBS for tonight’s national championship, but if you’re also interested in NBA, it comes with TNT, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN3 (which simulcasts games on ABC), as well. If you then add the “Sports Extra” add-on for another $11 per month to get NBA TV, you have every channel you’ll need to watch every NBA playoff game. This is by far the cheapest way to get all of that.
A virtual private network (VPN) can mask your IP address (thus hiding your location) and connect you to a digital server in another country. This makes it look like you’re in that country, so you can watch US-only content (such as YouTube TV or any of the aforementioned streaming services) from Europe, or Germany-only content from Canada, or Spain-only content from the US, etc.
NordVPN is one of the most reliable VPN’s on the market, plus it doesn’t limit your bandwidth speeds (which is key if you’re planning on streaming live TV while using a VPN) and it’s just really easy to use.
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.