How are You Watching March Madness?

by

megamarchmadness_game_mix-b-directv

With numerous ways to watch this year’s March Madness college basketball games, the experience comes as close to being personalized as any TV event we’ve had to date. By my reckoning, you can watch the NCAA match-ups live on TV, select your preferred games on the Web via March Madness On Demand (MMOD), watch on your iPhone or iPod Touch with the new mobile application, catch up to four games at once with the DirecTV package, use a new “College Hoops” feature via the Windows Media Center Sports Channel (includes interactive brackets, video highlights, and condensed replays), and get on-demand extras from a number of different cable and telco providers. (UPDATE: AT&T is also offering a March Madness app via its U-bar for U-verse subscribers)

For myself, I’ve downloaded the iPod Touch app ($4.99), have the main game on my big screen (I love working from home), and plan to check out MMOD on my netbook when I need a change-up. I’ve also gone through some of the archived highlights in Comcast’s on-demand package. The cableco is promising highlights from this year’s tourney too.

How are you watching? And, as a side note, how do your picks match up against Barack-atology?

Click to enlarge:

11 thoughts on “How are You Watching March Madness?”

  1. I’ve been using the app on my iPhone and it seems to be working quite well. There are some audio sync issues and every 10 minutes or so it wants to buffer. But overall, I have been surprised at how well it works. Unlike the web version, you can actually see the live scores from the app as well.

  2. Argh, I’m screwed. Melissa ran me my EyeTV card and antenna, but CBS isn’t coming in at work. I assume Maryland will be blacked out on MMOD. And my wireless connectivity isn’t good enough to Sling. I’m thinking I might need to run to the wing place around the corner for a couple hours.

  3. rob- I’ve been surprised by the quality too. Connection sometimes drops, but the picture is quite pretty. Love the in-game stats too.

    Dave- Wrong time to get re-employed, huh?

  6. MMOD and CBS are blocked at work (as well as espn.com), so I’m following scores on Yahoo, and I hit a new sports bar in Arlington during lunch.

    Tomorrow may be a working remotely day.

  10. The CBS Interactive iPhone App forced me to Jailbreak my phone so I can background it and listen to games while I do email, facebook, surf, etc.
    The only small issue with the iPhone app is that you can’t choose between audio and video. If you have WiFi on, it does video. So I have to turn off my WiFi to get it to act like a radio!
    When the app is running and active, it keeps the phone on. If you background it and give the screen to another app, the phone can go into sleep and the audio will stop until you wake up the phone at which time audio instantly restarts.
    If you take a phone call, the audio stops but you will need to force-quit the app and restart it to get audio working again.

    Fundamentally, short-lived apps like this one also highlights a limitation of the App Store approval model. Even if CBS Interactive saw my Radio-Only issue and wanted to implement the 5-minute fix, who knows how long it would take to go through the App Store process and if it would be released before the tournament ended.

  11. I am watching on my AT&T Samsung Eternity with the Mobile TV service (MediaFLO) They have ALL 63 games with the help of 4 promo channels – It’s pretty sweet! No buffering and they update the programming guide often so it is pretty accurate Also, the audio plays nicely on my standard bluetooth headset.

  12. Kermit, I remember who you work for… ;) Having said that, MediaFLO is the best way to go for mobile video if the content you want is available. Very nice that the whole tourney is being broadcast!

Comments are closed.