Technologies

March Madness 2023: How to Watch and Stream Friday’s Games Live on CBS, TNT, TBS and TruTV

Day 2 of the first round tips off Friday at 12:15 p.m. ET on CBS.

March Madness has been diagnosed. After a busy round of conference tournaments, the men’s NCAA college basketball tournament — affectionately (and accurately) known as March Madness — is now underway. The first batch of games begins at 12:15 p.m. ET (9:15 a.m. PT) Friday when USC takes on Michigan State, with additional contests running all day and well into the night on CBS, TNT, TBS and TruTV.

A wild finish between No. 13 Furman and No. 4 Virginia delivered the tournament’s first big upset — and this was in just the second game of the first round.

And then came the biggest giant-killing of the day: No. 15 Princeton taking down No. 2 Arizona.

Here’s everything you need to know to get in on the March Madness, from the first round to the Final Four and the National Championship game.

The Princeton Tigers celebrate after defeating the Arizona Wildcats in the first round.

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

The Princeton Tigers celebrate after defeating the Arizona Wildcats in the first round.

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

When does March Madness start?

With 68 teams invited to the Big Dance, the NCAA holds four play-in games to get the field down to 64, after which point the math works out to have four regional tournaments of 16 teams each. The winners of the four regional tournaments then advance to the Final Four, held this year in Houston.

March Madness began on Tuesday, March 14, with two play-in games followed by two more play-in games the next night. After these First Four games, the field of 64 is set and the tournament begins in earnest on Thursday, March 16, with a full slate of games that will take place all afternoon and into the night with at least a few moments of madness practically guaranteed.

Which teams are playing in March Madness?

The March Madness bracket and matchups were revealed on Sunday. Alabama, Houston, Kansas and Purdue are the top seeds in their respective regions.

The full bracket can be found on the NCAA’s website.

What is the March Madness schedule?

Here’s the remaining schedule, round by round:

First round: March 16-17
Second round: March 18-19
Sweet 16: March 23-24
Elite Eight: March 25-26
Final Four: April 1
NCAA championship game: April 3

How can I watch March Madness?

As in past years, the tournament will be shown across four channels: CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV. Yep, the time has come again to find TruTV on your dial.

What channel is TruTV?

If the last time you watched something on TruTV was last March, then you might need some assistance finding it for this year’s tournament. Here’s a handy guide for some of the major cable or satellite TV providers:

Dish Network: 242
DirecTV: 246
Verizon Fios: 683
Xfinity: varies by location (search by street address and ZIP code)
Spectrum: varies by location (search by street address and ZIP code)

What channel is broadcasting the Final Four?

The Final Four and National Championship game will air on CBS and stream on Paramount Plus.

Can I stream March Madness for free?

Go to the NCAA’s March Madness Live site or use its March Madness Live app and you’ll be able to watch games for free. You can watch March Madness Live on iOS and Android devices along with Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV and Xbox One. The app also supports AirPlay and Chromecast.

As with most things that are free, there’s a catch. Without proving you’re a pay-TV subscriber, you get only a three-hour preview, after which point you’ll need to log in to continue watching.

What are my other streaming options?

You can use a live TV streaming service to watch March Madness. Three of the five live TV streaming services offer the four channels needed to watch every tournament game, but keep in mind that not every service carries every local network, so check each one using the links below to make sure it carries CBS in your area.

You can also use Paramount Plus to watch some, but not all, of March Madness. Only the games shown on CBS are available on Paramount Plus.

Sarah Tew/CNET

YouTube TV

Carries CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV for $65 a month

YouTube TV costs $65 a month and includes CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV. Plug in your ZIP code on its welcome page to see which local networks are available in your area. Read our YouTube TV review.

See at YouTube TV

Hulu

Hulu with Live TV

Carries CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV for $70 a month

Hulu with Live TV costs $70 a month and includes CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV. Click the «View channels in your area» link on its welcome page to see which local channels are offered in your ZIP code. Read our Hulu with Live TV review.

See at Hulu with Live TV

Directv stream

DirecTV Stream

Carries CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV for $75 a month

DirecTV Stream’s basic $75-a-month plan includes CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV. You can use its channel lookup tool to see which local channels are available where you live. Read our DirecTV Stream review.

See at DirecTV Stream

Paramount Plus Premium

Carries CBS for $10 a month

Paramount Plus costs $10 a month for its Premium plan and will show March Madness games broadcast on CBS including the Final Four. You can’t, however, watch the rest of the tournament shown on TBS, TNT or TruTV with Paramount Plus. Read our Paramount Plus review.

See at Paramount Plus

Fubo TV

FuboTV

Carries CBS for $75 a month

FuboTV’s basic plan costs $75 a month and includes CBS but not TBS, TNT or TruTV. It’s not the best choice for March Madness but will let you watch some early-round games, the Final Four and championship game. Click here to see which local channels you get. Read our FuboTV review.

See at FuboTV

Sling/CNET

Sling TV

Carries TBS, TNT and TruTV for $40 a month

Sling TV’s $40-a-month Blue plan includes TBS, TNT and TruTV. None of its plans include CBS, which means you can’t watch the culmination of March Madness on Sling. Read our Sling TV review.

See at Sling TV

All of the live TV streaming services above offer free trials, allow you to cancel anytime and require a solid internet connection. Looking for more information? Check out our live-TV streaming services guide.

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Oct. 22 #598

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Oct. 22, No. 598.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a fun one — I definitely have at least two of these in my house. Some of the answers are a bit tough to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Catch all.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: A mess of items.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

BATE, LICE, SLUM, CAPE, HOLE, CARE, BARE, THEN, SLAM, SAMBA, BACK

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

TAPE, COIN, PENCIL, BATTERY, SHOELACE, THUMBTACK

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is JUNKDRAWER. To find it, look for the J that’s five letters down on the far-left row, and wind down, over and then up.

Quick tips for Strands

#1: To get more clue words, see if you can tweak the words you’ve already found, by adding an «S» or other variants. And if you find a word like WILL, see if other letters are close enough to help you make SILL, or BILL.

#2: Once you get one theme word, look at the puzzle to see if you can spot other related words.

#3: If you’ve been given the letters for a theme word, but can’t figure it out, guess three more clue words, and the puzzle will light up each letter in order, revealing the word.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Oct. 22, #1586

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for Oct. 22, No. 1,586.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Wordle puzzle features some letters I don’t often guess, but it’s not terribly difficult. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.

Today’s Wordle hints

Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.

Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats

Today’s Wordle answer has one repeated letter.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

Today’s Wordle answer has one vowel.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with S.

Wordle hint No. 4: Last letter

Today’s Wordle answer ends with T.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer can refer to an action displaying spectacular skill and daring.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is STUNT.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, Oct. 21, No. 1,585 was DETOX.

Recent Wordle answers

Oct. 17, No. 1,581: GROSS
Oct. 18, No. 1,582: HAVEN
Oct. 19, No. 1,583: IDEAL
Oct. 20, No. 1,584: LIMBO

Quick tips for Wordle

#1: Check our list ranking the popularity of all the letters in the alphabet and choose your starter words accordingly. (TRAIN, STERN and AUDIO are good.)

#2: Don’t forget that letters can be used more than once.

#3: Many words are similar. You don’t want to use up multiple guesses that don’t advance your cause. So if the puzzle is STA_E, don’t guess STARE, STATE and STALE. Guess something that uses that R, T and L, like TWIRL.