A New Twist for Viewing the N.C.A.A. Tournament Online The N.C.A.A. men's basketball tournament is less than a month away, and Turner Sports on Thursday announced a new wrinkle for the rabid online viewing of it: a $3.99 pay option. Fans eager to watch the games streamed live - but who choose not to authenticate their cable, satellite or telephone company accounts on one of Turner's three Web sites - will have to pay the fee. The service, now called N.C.A.A. March Madness Live, formerly March Madness on Demand, will continue to be free for those who authenticate to Turner's sites (tbs.com, tnt.tv, truTv.com). CBS's games - which will be streamed on cbssports.com - require no authentication. Matthew Hong, the senior vice president and general manager of Turner Sports Interactive, said the fee was not designed to appeal to people cutting the cords to their cable operators. Rather, he said, it is to persuade people to authenticate - a goal of the "TV Everywhere" initiative at Turner Broadcasting to make all of its networks widely available free on as many platforms as possible, including tablets and Android phones. "The $3.99 product is not about raising money," Hong said. It is an incentive to authenticate. Turner's plan will probably create, at least at the start, confusion and consternation for fans accustomed to years of free online access to the tournament that did not require authentication. Many watch outside their homes, and may not have their TV providers" account numbers with them. Now, depending on the TV provider, fans may be able to get all three Turner sites by authenticating on one - but they may have to authenticate on each one. "We want to make sure people who don't have their authentication credentials still have access," Hong said. Forty-one of the 67 games will be carried by the Turner networks. Turner became a part of the tournament mix last year, the first in a 14-year, $10.8 billion deal with the N.C.A.A. that reduced CBS's role and allowed all games to be carried nationally. The free online model for March Madness Live continued last season. NBC Sports used an authentication model during the 2008 Summer and 2010 Winter Games, requiring users of its Olympic Web site to enter their TV provider, account number and password to see streaming video.