CBS will be again offering the Men's Division I College Basketball tournament for free via their online NCAA March Madness On Demand streaming video portal. Users signed up to use the free service will be able to remotely stream the first three rounds of the championship live to a remote computer… with one caveat. Like most online streaming options, local blackout rules apply. This means if a CBS owned or operated station in your area is broadcasting a game, you can’t watch it online.

Fortunately, Sling Media’s Slingbox is here to save the day. With NCAA March Madness On Demand in one hand and a Slingbox in the other, remote and local games will be available for you to watch from anywhere you happen to be. If you don’t care much about any other game than those your local station will broadcast, then the Slingbox is all you need. Best of all, with Slingbox there’s no queue or wait times to watch a game. Virtual “Waiting Rooms” aren’t any more fun than the real ones; with Slingbox your connection is instantaneously satisfying.

The quality could be a touch better from your Slingbox, too. On your home network, the new Slingboxes (AV, PRO, and Tuner) offer a brilliant 640x480 picture, and remotely stream at 320x240 using automatic settings. If you have a fairly large upload speed at home and a solid download connection on the other end, you can flip your encoding parameters to manual and stream your local game at 640x480 resolution, which is a good bit higher than the improved 480x360 stream from NCAA March Madness On Demand site.

Slingbox won’t give you access to any games that are not available from your local television provider, so Slingbox and March Madness On Demand compliment each other completely. When combined, it’s the ultimate NCAA March Madness solution. VIP registration is still open (though that may change at anytime). Sign up while you still can.

Even if you didn’t care about your local games, CBS’ NCAA March Madness On Demand only gives you full access to the first three rounds of play. After that, all you’ll find there is highlights. With a Slingbox connected to your home cable or satellite box, you can keep the NCAA Championship fun going, and watch remotely all the way through the finals.

Oh, and when there’s not a game on, Slingbox will bring your entire home TV channel lineup with you anywhere you go... so feel free to watch something else.

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