More March Madness this weekend. Stream two free Sweet Sixteen games Friday night and two Elite Eight games each on Saturday and Sunday. Rent Oscar Best Picture nominee Boyhood for 99¢, and see what new movies are out. Catch up on several PBS shows for free. Some interesting streaming TV news and rumors from Amazon and Apple. Have a nice weekend!
Sports
Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight time. CBS is airing two games each day all weekend, and they will be streaming free. The Friday night games are #11 UCLA vs #2 Gonzaga at 7:15pm and #5 Utah vs #1 Duke at 9:45pm. The Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon matchups have not been determined yet, of course. Stream free on the March Madness Live app for iPhone, iPad, Android, or on computers. CBS games are also free with an antenna. Everything else requires a cable TV subscription, but the app has a free trial that you may want to use wisely.
Also free this weekend on ESPN3 are Europa Soccer Qualifiers all weekend and Rockets vs Wizards in the NBA on Sunday at 12:30pm. ESPN3 is free with select internet or TV service.
See the full streaming sports schedule from kettle.tv or check your local listings to see what is free with an antenna. All times Eastern.
Television
Now streaming free
- Catfish S4
- Community is back with new episodes on Yahoo Screen
- Empire 2-part season finale
Also catch up on some PBS shows for free: Mr. Selfridge S2, Call the Midwife S3, Sherlock S1.
Now available for purchase on iTunes, Amazon, or VUDU
- Game of Thrones S4
- The Walking Dead S5
- Better Call Saul S1
- The Affair S1
Netflix
New this week
- Mad Men S7
- Trailer Park Boys S9
- Turn S1
New last week
- Bloodline S1
- God's Not Dead
Lots of Netflix titles expiring and debuting at the end of the month.
Movies
Into the Woods, The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies, and Unbroken are now available to rent on iTunes, Amazon, or VUDU. The Imitation Game is now available for purchase.
Best Picture nominee Boyhood is the iTunes 99¢ rental of the week and Nightcrawler and St Vincent are both $10 for a limited time.
In the News
Some actual news before I get to some juicy rumors. The first item overlaps mobile and streaming TV, two of the main themes here. Get a free year of Netflix if you buy a Samsung Galaxy S6 or S6 Edge at T-Mobile between March 27th and April 9th. More info from The Verge.
Fan TV is out with a new version of their app. Search to see where movies and TV shows are available online, compare prices, add favorites to your watch list, and get notified when they become available on one of your selected services. The design is simple and intuitive and if the notifications work as promised I see it replacing Yidio and Can I Stream It for me. Try it out free on iPhone or iPad.
The Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick will be receiving a free software update in a few weeks that will add support for bluetooth headphones, external storage, and hotel wifi. More details at TechCrunch.
VUDU has lowered HDX prices $1 to match HD prices.
Apple is rumored to be launching a streaming TV service this year with 25-30 channels according to the Wall St Journal and BuzzFeed is reporting they will also debut a new Apple TV box with Siri, an App Store, and some home automation functions.
Add Slate to the list of sites with a cord-cutting calculator. It's a neat tool, but I prefer the one from The Verge.
This is the What to Watch This Weekend (without cable) series. Subscribe to the newsletter to receive it in your inbox every Friday. All times mentioned are Eastern.