How to Watch the Final Four on Windows  

Over the last few weeks college basketball teams from around the country have played against each other to decide who is better. Some teams have shocked us all, making it a lot farther along than we might have suspected they would before the start of NCAA March Madness. Other teams, have chugged along, performing like the winners we already knew them they were. All of the action culminates this weekend in the Final Four, two games that’ll decide which college teams go home and which get to face each other on Monday.

If you aren’t near a computer for the event, don’t fret. There are plenty of ways to watch the Final Four on Windows notebooks, tablets and desktops.

Downloading the March Madness App from the Windows Store

If you’re running Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system, your first stop should always be the new Windows Store. Apps downloaded from there are secure and both mouse and touch friendly. There’s a March Madness app in the Windows Store that offers up everything Windows users should need for the Final Four games.

Stats breakdowns, matchups and more are all available inside the app. So is live streaming video of the games themselves. Any game that airs on CBS is available without signing in with the username and password of your cable or satellite provider. Games on TBS, TruTV and TNT do require a cable subscription. As such, you’ll need a cable subscription to watch this Saturday’s games live on TNT.  When the NCAA Men’s Championship Airs on Monday, April 6th, you’ll be able to watch that for free with or without a cable or satellite subscription.

Watch Online at March Madness Live

Obviously, all Windows PCs don’t have access to the Windows Store. Windows 7 and Windows Vista users shouldn’t fret though. The March Madness app for Windows has an online companion that’s available here. Sadly, the same restrictions apply for broadcasts.

Watch Directly from CBS and TNT’s Apps

CBS is in the midst of launching its own app that lets users stream its broadcast channels for $5.99 a month. The service is available in Baltimore, MD, San Francisco, CA, Chicago, IL, Los Angeles, CA, New York, NY, Philadelphia, PA and a few other localities. If your city is on the complete list, which is available here, you’ll be able to watch with no problem. CBS All Access normally costs $5.99 a month, but the company does offer a free trial that should get users through the end of March Madness with no problem. CBS All Access has apps on iOS and Android.

TNT allows users to watch anything being broadcast on either of its East and West Coast feeds online for free. The company calls this TNT Live and it’s available on the company’s website and in apps for iPhone and Android if you’re away from your Windows PC at some point. TNT Live isn’t free in the sense that it has a dedicated cover charge. That being said, you do need a cable provider account to sign in.

Watch Online with Sling TV

Finally, users can watch through Sling TV, the up-and-coming live streaming app that doesn’t require users to have a cable subscription at all. In fact, Sling TV is being billed as a complete replacement for cable complete with affordable channel packs based on interest. Whether Sling TV will catch on or not, it remains one of the few live cable offerings available to just about anyone in the United States without any hoops.

$20 a month gets Sling TV users access to a decent line up channels. Since CBS has its own service, you can’t use it to watch the championship game next week, but this weekend all the action is on cable network TNT, which is a part of the basic Sling TV package. Sling TV doesn’t have a dedicated Windows app, but it is available through a web browser here.

Good luck watching March Madness on your Windows device this weekend and early next week. Remember, the first game this weekend starts on cable network TNT at 6PM Eastern Standard Time.