Turner Unveils Revamped NCAA March Madness Live Streaming Service

By Carrie Bowden

Turner Sports has revamped the look of its NCAA March Madness Live streaming service and made it available on more devices in advance of the 2014 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship. March Madness Live will offer live streaming of all 67 games (more than 150 hours) basketball across online, mobile, and tablets to pay TV subscribers throughout the entire Championship. Fans will have access to all live games airing on CBS for free with no authentication required, but all games airing on TNT, TBS and truTV will require users to log in with their TV service provider information (though a temporary preview period will be allowed upon first view).

Produced by Turner Sports and developed in partnership with the NCAA and CBS Sports, the new NCAA March Madness Live will feature a new bracket layout, a redesigned GameCenter experience, new Bracket Challenge game and enhanced social features. NCAA March Madness Live will also launch from more platforms than ever before including ncaa.com/marchmadness, CBSSports.com, bleacherreport.com, the App Store, Google Play and the Windows Store beginning in March. Additionally, fans can watch games via live streaming on TNT, TBS and truTV’s digital platforms, as well as participating TV provider websites.

For the first time during the Final Four semifinal matchups (Saturday, April 5), NCAA March Madness Live will provide three distinct feeds of both games to provide unique viewing options for fans – live streaming of the traditional game coverage provided on TBS, along with streams of the team-specific presentations offered via TNT and truTV.

Expansion to New Devices
NCAA March Madness Live will be available on more devices than ever before including – for the first time – Windows 8.1 and the Windows Phone 8 operating system as well as iPhone, iPad and Android 4.0+ operating system.

New Bracket Layout
A completely new bracket layout interface is available for smartphones and tablets, including more views and functionality and the ability to zoom in on a particular matchup, go directly to live game coverage or view the upcoming schedule with times and broadcast networks.

GameCenter Expanded
Redesigned this year, GameCenter serves as a destination for live game streaming, pre-game matchup analysis, live in-game stats, key social moments and fan chat.

Capital One NCAA March Madness Bracket Challenge
The official bracket game of March Madness including new designs and feature enhancements on desktop, smartphones and tablets, along with expanded social functionality across all devices allowing fans to join groups, share brackets and chat with friends and other passionate fans via Facebook.

Coke Zero NCAA March Madness Social Arena
A forum to extend the conversation surrounding all of the games within NCAA March Madness Live products, fans can follow game tweets, view Instagram photos and – for the first time – Vine videos.  Fans can also participate in chats and keep a pulse on all the key moments of every game. Fans can participate in the social commentary by using the hashtag #marchmadness.

TV Schedule Grid
New this year, TV schedule grids will be available digitally to allow fans to plan their day around the Championship schedule. The programming guide – easily accessible via the game schedule or bracket – provides the round, date, time and network for each game.

Tournament News
For the first time, fans will have direct access to the latest tournament news and updates – including highlights, recaps and additional information each day throughout the Championship – directly via NCAA March Madness Live.

Additionally, NCAA March Madness Live will once again provide video highlights, full game replays and excitement alerts, as well as fan-favorite features including live game scoring, real-time Championship brackets, personal channel lineup features, real-time game alerts for their favorite school and the “Boss Button.” Fans will have direct access to live radio broadcasts, courtesy of Westwood One, for all 67 games across the collection of digital products.

NCAA March Madness Live Sponsors
Co-presenting sponsors for NCAA March Madness Live are NCAA Corporate Champions AT&T, Capital One and Coke Zero. Additionally, Buick, Capital One and Coke Zero will sponsor the NCAA March Madness Live App for iPhone and iPad, while AT&T, Infiniti and LG Electronics USA will sponsor the Android apps. AT&T will also serve as presenting sponsor for the Windows app. Buick, Infiniti and LG Electronics are NCAA Corporate Partners.