Game of Thrones is, by far, the best show on TV. It’s heady mix of politics, action, incredible sets and an amazing cast sets it far above everything else that’s currently on. Season 5 is starting tonight (13th April) in the UK. If you want to watch it, here are all of the options available to you. We’re only covering the legal options here in the UK, although the first four episodes were leaked online.
How to watch for free: Sky Go
Game of Thrones seasons 5 is only legally going to be shown on Sky Atlantic and we do not have the HBO Go app in the UK. You will not be able to buy episodes as they happen, using iTunes or similar, until after the initial run. This means that your main option for getting it by using Sky Go, which comes as a free extra with all Sky accounts. If you’ve got a friend or family member that has a Sky account and is happy for you to use their login details, you’ll be able to watch the action live.
Sky Go lets you register up to two devices to watch live and catch-up content. It supports iPhones, iPads, Android devices and PCs and Macs. Note that the mobile app does not support AirPlay for Apple TV or Chromecast, so you can’t beam the content to your TV; as such you may want to hook a laptop up to your television, so that you watch on the big screen.
Sky Go is available for the Xbox One and PS4, although they require a Sky Go Extra account, which costs £5 a month. This also extends the number of devices to four and adds the ability to download shows locally, so you can watch in places where you don’t have an internet connection.
As well as showing the live broadcast, Sky Go will also have episodes available to watch on-demand after they’ve been broadcast. These catch-up episodes will only hang around for a short while, so you should watch them as soon as you can.
How to watch with a subscription: Sky Now TV
If you don’t mind paying to watch, then your only option is go with a Now TV subscription. This costs just £6.99 a month, with no contract (you can cancel whenever you like) and gets you both live TV shows, including Game of Thrones, and catch-up box sets of previous seasons. Now TV supports a huge range of devices including games consoles, Apple TV, Chromecast, Android, iPhone, YouView boxes and PCs.
Episode-by-episode paid-for content
If you don’t want to sign up for any of these services, you’ll have to wait until Sky Atlantic has finished showing the entire series. After that, later in the year (date to be announced), you’ll be able to buy Season 5 episode-by-episode through online stores, including iTunes and Google Play Movies. If you can wait this long, you’ve got a lot more self-control than us, though!
How to watch previous series
If you want to catch up on the previous series of Game of Thrones, you’ve got a lot more options. Sky Go and Now TV both currently have every season available to watch for the next 48 days (from the 13th April), so you can binge watch your way through them before starting Season 5.
You can now buy seasons 1 through 4 on iTunes for £24 a season (or £2.49 an episode); the Google Play Store has each episode for £2.49 or seasons 1 through 4 for £23 each, all in HD. You’ll find similar deals on other online stores, such as Amazon or BlinkBox.
