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How to watch Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones season 6 kicks off today. With [SPOILER] dead, [SPOILER] maybe dead and [SPOILER] encircling the Iron Throne, the stakes are higher than ever. 

As was revealed back in February, today sees the date of the first UK broadcast of Game of Thrones season 6 – although night owls who stayed up to watch the 2:00am simulcast will have already seen it. No spoilers in the comments, guys.  

All new episodes of Game of Thrones will be broadcast here on Sky Atlantic at the same time as they’re being shown on HBO in the US. 

If you don’t fancy staying up until 2:00am every Sunday night, then you’ll be pleased to know that every episode will be available to watch on catch-up an hour later – so you can have a watch on your morning commute via the Sky Go or Now TV apps or during your lunch break if you really can’t wait until it’s broadcast again at 9:00pm. To recap: 

When is Game of Thrones broadcast in the UK?

  • Game of Thrones season 6 initial UK broadcast time: 2:00am on Sky Atlantic and Sky Atlantic HD (US simulcast)
  • Game of Thrones seaosn 6 catch-up: 3:00am onwards on Sky Go and Now TV
  • Game of Thrones season 6 standard UK broadcast time: 9:00pm on Sky Atlantic and Sky Atlantic HD

Here’s how you can get Sky Atlantic on your TV and watch or stream every episode of Game of Thrones as they’re broadcast. 

Alternatively, if you don’t mind bunkering down for ten weeks and shutting off all social media access, we’ve also rounded up the best ways to watch Game of Thrones after that initial broadcast run has concluded, as well as showing you how to catch up with seasons 1-5. 

How to get Sky Atlantic (Sky+, Sky Q and Now TV)

How to get Now TV from SkyThe only way to watch new episodes of Game of Thrones as they’re landing hot off the press in the UK (at least legally) is to get a TV package that comes with Sky Atlantic.

While you can get most of Sky’s TV channels like Sky 1, Sky Living and Sky Arts from other pay TV providers like Virgin Media and TalkTalk TV, Sky’s keeping Sky Atlantic in its top pocket. 

In other words, if you want to watch Game of Thrones, you’ll need to sign up for a Sky TV service or get Now TV. 

Sky+ subscriptions start at £20/month, which gets you the entry-level Original Bundle. This includes Sky Atlantic as standard. If you’re a new customer signing up for Sky and you want to be able to watch Sky Atlantic in HD, you’ll need to take the Sky Family Bundle, which costs £36/month. 

New service Sky Q offers Sky Atlantic and Sky Atlantic HD as standard. Sky Q subscriptions start at £42/month and set-up fees start at £99. Initial pricing varies depending on whether you’re upgrading from Sky+ or you’re a new customer and whether you’re willing to take Sky Broadband – we’ve rounded up all of the Sky Q pricing information and detailed that here

Now TV Entertainment Passes cost £6.99/month. This lets you access Sky Atlantic streams online or on your phone or tablet. The iOS and Android Now TV apps are even Chromecast-compatible, so you can beam content to a TV if you want to embiggen Game of Thrones

You can also access Now TV through Apple TV and Sky’s own Now TV-branded mini streamers

Now TV streams content in SD or HD (up to 720p HD) depending on available bandwidth. You’ll need at least 2Mbps spare to stream content in standard definition and 5Mbps for HD streams. 

Where can I watch episodes from seasons 1-5 of Game of Thrones?

You can currently watch all previously broadcast episodes of Game of Thrones on Sky On Demand or Now TV. 

These will be available to watch on an on demand basis for a limited time; Sky typically lines up all previously broadcast seasons ahead of a new series landing to give fans a chance to revisit old episodes. An exit date for seasons 1-5 on Sky TV and Now TV hasn’t been given yet but but they tend to start leaving the service after the latest season has finished being broadcast. 

How to watch Game of Thrones

TalkTalk TV Store (formerly known as Blinkbox): Slightly cheaper, not Full HD 

What is HD? The difference between 720p, 1080i and 1080pBlinkbox killed and reborn as TalkTalk TV Store with ‘UK’s lowest prices’The TalkTalk TV Store is currently selling individual episodes and entire seasons of Game of Thrones in SD and HD. 

Episodes are priced at either £1.89 (SD) or £2.49 (HD). Currently, Game of Thrones season 1 costs either £14.99 (SD) or £19.99 (HD). 

Seasons 2-5 are priced at £16.99 if you want them in SD or £22.99 if you want them in HD. You should note that TalkTalk TV Store’s HD content is 720p HD and there’s currently no plans to up this to 1080p Full HD. 

How TalkTalk TV Store works is once you’ve bought a bunch of episodes or seasons, you can then log in to your account and either stream or download them from your own personal library. In order to watch SD content you’ll need at least 2Mbps of spare bandwidth and 5Mbps for any HD streams. 

You can access TalkTalk TV Store online; Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer on Windows XP-8.1 are supported, as is Firefox and Safari on Max OS X 5.7 and higher. 

There’s also TalkTalk TV Store apps for iOS and Android devices (which are Chromecast-compatible) as well as apps for Xbox 360, Xbox One and PlayStation 3. 

Downloading files for offline viewing is currently only available on desktops running Windows 8.1 and above and iOS and Android devices. 

How to watch Game of Thrones

iTunes: More expensive but at least HD means Full HD 

How can I get 1080p HD video downloads on iTunes?Like TalkTalk TV Store, you can also buy episodes and seasons of Game of Thrones on iTunes. 

You’ve also got the option of buying Game of Thrones in standard or high definition and perhaps best of all, you can download episodes and seasons in 1080p Full HD. 

If you’re not bothered about this, then you might be better off with TalkTalk TV Store as iTunes’s per season prices are slightly more expensive. 

Prices for individual episodes are still the same – £1.89 per SD episode and £2.49 for HD episodes. 

Season 1 of Game of Thrones on iTunes costs either £14.99 (SD) or £19.99 (HD). Seasons 2-5 cost £17.99 (SD) or £23.99 (HD). 

If you really want to spend a lot of money, you can get every episode of Game of Thrones in one go for either £74.99 (SD) or £89.99 (HD). Another possible bonus to buying seasons of Game of Thrones from iTunes is that you get a slew of extra content throw in, cast interviews, featurettes and so on.

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