iPad March Madness Starts Tonight!

If you’re not going to be in front of a TV tonight for the start of the NCAA college basketball tournament, never fear, the (free) iPad app is here. The iPad launch last year just missed the March Madness season, which means this is the first time you can stream live games to the tablet screen. And given how many games take place during the tournament, having a portable television by your side is a major plus. I’ll be home tonight when the tourney kicks off, but given all the work that needs to be done around my house, I probably won’t be tied to the living-room TV. The iPad, however, will travel around with me.

Of course, if you don’t have an iPad, there are plenty of places to catch the college games, but the iPad implementation is interesting for a couple of reasons. First, given the screen size and portability of the iPad, the tablet truly starts to feel like a portable TV – much more so than the old black-and-white carry-around I had as a kid that could barely pull down an OTA signal.

Second, from an industry perspective, the start of March Madness makes an interesting new test of how well the web can deliver on live video events. If I recall right, there hasn’t been a major live TV event since the iPad launched. The presidential inauguration and the Olympic games were all pre-iPad. What will demand be like on the beautiful, traveling iPad screen? And what kind of reviews will we give to the new UI, the Apple HTTP Live Streaming protocol, and our network connections?

Whatever the app verdict, enjoy the games tonight. Here’s a list of new features for the March Madness On Demand app this year:

• My Channels – plug in your zip code and TV provider and you’ll see where each game is on across all four networks – TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV
• Official NCAA.com March Madness Bracket Challenge – manage your bracket game from the app. Access your picks and track your progress. Make sure to sign up at ncaa.com/bracket.
• Game Center for iPad – use the app to see in-game highlights, live box scores and team leaders in a single screen. Perfect as a companion to watching the game.