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Final Four 2023: How to Livestream March Madness Today on CBS

San Diego State takes on Florida Atlantic in the first men’s Final Four game on Saturday, followed by UConn against Miami.

This March has been madder than most. We have arrived at the men’s Final Four with neither a No. 1 nor a No. 2 nor a No. 3 seed left in the field. No. 4 UConn is the highest seed remaining, followed by a pair of No. 5 seeds in Miami and San Diego State. The Cinderella of this year’s dance is No. 9 Florida Atlanta. It’s the first Final Four appearance for every school other than UConn. The last time the Final Four featured three first-time participants was over 50 years ago in 1970.

Florida Atlantic faces San Diego State in the first game today, April 1, at 6:09 p.m. ET (3:09 p.m. PT), with UConn and Miami in the nightcap scheduled to start at 8:49 p.m. ET (5:49 p.m. PT). Both games will be broadcast on CBS. Here’s everything you need to watch and livestream the Final Four today and the national championship game on Monday night.

Jordan Hawkins of the UConn Huskies prepares to shoot the ballJordan Hawkins of the UConn Huskies prepares to shoot the ball

Jordan Hawkins and the No. 4 UConn Huskies are the highest seed left in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images

What is the Final Four TV schedule?

The schedule and channels for the Final Four and national championship game are listed below (all times ET).

Saturday, April 1

  • No. 5 San Diego State vs. No. 9 Florida Atlantic, 6:09 p.m. on CBS
  • No. 4 UConn vs. No. 5 Miami (Florida), 8:49 p.m. on CBS

Monday, April 3

  • NCAA championship game: 9:20 p.m. on CBS

What does the March Madness bracket look like now?

Your bracket is certainly busted at this point, but if you want to see how the tournament has played out, the full, updated bracket can be found on the NCAA’s website

Which 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. 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 two 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 the three remaining games that will be on CBS.

Paramount Plus, CNET

Paramount Plus costs $10 a month for its Premium plan and will show March Madness games broadcast on CBS, including the Final Four and national championship game. Read our Paramount Plus review.

Hulu

Hulu with Live TV costs $70 a month and includes CBS. 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.

Sarah Tew/CNET

YouTube TV costs $73 a month and includes CBS. Plug in your ZIP code on its welcome page to see which local networks are available in your area. Read our YouTube TV review.

DirecTV Stream

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

Fubo TV

FuboTV’s basic plan costs $75 a month and includes CBS. Click here to see which local channels you get. Read our FuboTV review.

All 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.

Technologies

GameStop Designates Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii U as Retro Consoles

The retailer also announced a limited-time trade-in bonus on the consoles and other older gaming equipment.

The consoles you grew up with are now officially retro. GameStop, the world’s largest brick-and-mortar video game retailer, announced Monday that it’s labelling multiple seventh- and eighth-generation home gaming consoles as «retro consoles.»

The Xbox 360, released in 2005; the PlayStation 3, released in 2006; and the Wii U, released in 2012, are now «historical artifacts» of the games industry, according to the retailer.

It’s hard to define the «retro» label in gaming circles. There’s a fierce debate over whether the transition from 2D to 3D graphics, the rise of online gaming or the adoption of digital audiovisual outputs should qualify consoles for the designation.

What matters most is that the definition of retro gaming is fluid, and GameStop has set forth its own criteria for redesignating these three home consoles.

«The ruling was reached following careful analysis of multiple indicators, including: the presence of component cables, the lack of Fortnite and the realization that [these consoles] launched when George W. Bush was still president,» the statement reads.

While that may feel like GameStop is reclassifying consoles based on vibes — the Wii U wasn’t even released during the Bush administration — there is at least some merit to these claims. The lack of component cables in newer consoles is proof enough that hardware has significantly evolved since the release of the reclassified consoles, and it has been a long time since they’ve been able to run any modern games (even something as ubiquitous as Fortnite). The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are 20 years old. That’s about as «retro» as retro gets.

According to GameStop’s statement, it reclassified these consoles under its «Retro Classification Standard,» with the hardware joining the Sega Saturn and the Nintendo DS in the retro category.

A representative for GameStop did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

GameStop began a limited-time trade-in campaign for retro gaming equipment in accordance with the reclassification of these consoles.

Anyone who brings in an Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U or any console, game or gaming accessory that is older than the redesignated consoles will receive an additional 10% in trade-in credit. This offer ends on March 21.

The company also revised its retro console trade-in policy. Starting immediately, GameStop will accept defective retro consoles even if they are «non-operable, missing accessories or aesthetically unfortunate» as long as they can be powered on. This policy also applies to the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii U home consoles.

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Technologies

TSA Staffing Shortages Are Causing a Mess at Airport Security Lines. How to Mitigate the Wait

Airport security professionals just missed their first paychecks due to the ongoing partial US government shutdown.

This past weekend, employees of the Transportation Security Administration missed their first full paycheck due to the partial government shutdown. Not surprisingly, many of those security officers have quit or stopped showing up for work, leading to airport staffing shortages.

The loss of TSA officers and a new batch of extreme weather in the Midwest and East Coast are creating havoc at airports across the US. Some travelers at Atlanta’s Hartfield-Jackson airport on Tuesday waited more than two hours in the security area before being allowed to travel to their gates, and Acting Deputy TSA Administrator Adam Stahl said that the government may need to shut down some airports completely.

Don’t be surprised when you get to the airport and see the security line trailing out into the parking lot. It’s easy to check security wait lines before you leave for the airport, so you know how long it will take you to get from check-in to your gate.

If you have spring break or other planned air travel coming soon, learn how you can check security line wait times so you can better plan your trip to the airport.

Check the official TSA app

The TSA maintains an app for mobile devices called MyTSA (iOS and Android) that lists security line wait times for airports around the US. The app is fairly basic and now includes a warning that «this website is not actively managed» due to the pause in federal funding, but it does include plenty of official TSA information about airline travel.

To check the wait times for specific US airports, tap the My Airports tab at the bottom of the app, then tap «Search Airports.» You can scroll through the alphabetical list of airports or type in an airport name or code in the search bar at the top.

Tap through to the airport of your choice, and you’ll see the current estimated security wait time at the top of the screen.

When I checked some of the major airports Tuesday afternoon — Los Angeles (LAX), Chicago O’Hare (ORD), Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta (ATL), JFK in New York (JFK) and Ronald Reagan in DC (DCA) — most had estimated relatively low wait times of 0 to 15 or 15 to 30 minutes (only JFK was 30-45 minutes). 

Those estimates are a far cry from the two to four hours that airports are advising travelers to allow, but the times on the MyTSA app mostly matched the times listed on airport websites (see below). The only exception was Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta, which showed an estimate of 0-15 minutes on the MyTSA app, but slightly longer times on the airport website.

The MyTSA app also includes historical averages for each airport’s security line wait times by time of day. 

Check your airport’s website

When I tested the TSA app, it didn’t list specific terminals at any of the airports. It only listed a time range for «All Terminals.» 

If you want that sort of detailed information, your best bet is to use the official airport websites — most of the major ones now offer estimated security wait times. Some airports put those estimated times front and center on their websites; others require a little more exploration.

Most airport websites will break out the times for specific terminals. At some of the bigger airports, there’s often quite a disparity between the terminals.

Here are the web pages for estimated security wait lines for some of the most frequently traveled airports in the US:

I wasn’t able to find security line wait times on the websites for two of the busiest airports — O’Hare in Chicago and Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas. For those, you’ll need to use the TSA app.

Save your spot in the security line

Numerous airports now allow travelers to reserve a specific time in the security line. At Seattle’s SeaTac Airport, you make a Spot Saver reservation and go to a specially marked entrance to the security checkpoint listed on your reservation. An employee scans the barcode you were emailed, and you’re ushered to the front. At SeaTac, you can be up to 15 minutes before or after your Spot Saver reservation, since airport timing is tough to estimate.

Here’s a list of some of those reservation sites. You can search for your airport name and «reserve security line spot» or something similar to see if your airport also has a program.

  • Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA): Spot Saver
  • Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP): MSP Reserve
  • Denver International Airport (DEN): DEN Reserve
  • Orlando International Airport (MCO): MCO Reserve
  • Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX): PHX Reserve
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Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for March 18 #745

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for March 18, No. 745.

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 kind of bizarre. Even after I had found some of the answers, the theme didn’t click in my brain until I was almost done with the puzzle. And some of the answers are difficult 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: It follows.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Not death…

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:

  • LEFT, COLE, HOLE, LACK, BILE, LEACH, SOLE, LOSE, LIFE, SEER, STEEL, STERN, FAIL

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:

  • COACH, HACK, BLOOD, CYCLE, STYLE, LESSON, PRESERVER. (All words that can follow the word «LIFE.»)

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is AFTERLIFE. To find it, start with the A that is the furthest-left letter on the top row, and wind down.

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