The cost of living crisis is biting harder than a dragon of late, so many of us are cancelling streaming services (such as Netflix and Amazon Prime) to save some coin, despite the temptation to remain signed up to all providers to watch stellar shows such as the Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon.
House of the Dragon, which premiered on Sunday 21st August 2022 for American audiences on HBO Max, followed in the UK the day after, Monday 22nd August, on Sky (also accessible by BT TV if that's your provider and you don't have Sky Q or Sky Glass). Those of us without access to any of that can dig in via NOW instead (formerly NOW TV).
If you missed it and want to catch up then the Sky Atlantic channel airs the show frequently ahead of its weekly slot run at 21:00 on Mondays (check out Sky's TV Guide, channel 108), where it's easy to set a show record.
But how do I watch House of the Dragon for cheap already!?
As I've pointed out above, you can sign-up to NOW to watch House of the Dragon in the UK. The streaming service used to offer a free 7-day trial sign-up, which would have meant – if you were patient enough! – that you could wait until House of the Dragon's 10th and final season one episode, on 23rd October, and binge the lot in one go, then cancel.
However, NOW no longer offers a 7-day free trail of its service. But it does still offer the cheapest legal way to access the show in the UK. There's an offer to acquire NOW's Entertainment package for just £9.99 up front, with NOW's Boost feature added for a week for free (after which it'll incur £5 additional costs on a rolling monthly basis).
Boost is an essential addition in my view, as vanilla NOW only streams at HD Ready 720p and with adverts, whereas Boost means1080p Full HD streaming without the ads, plus the provision to watch across up to three devices rather than just the one. It's not 4K UHD, mind, so if you're after that kind of ultra-resolute viewing experience then you'll need to part with much more cash through Sky or BT direct.
If you've been reading various House of the Dragon reviews and, like many other viewers, are somewhat non-plussed about the new show, however, then perhaps you'll want to use the sub-£10 hack and hit the whole season on NOW come October. It may well be the best way to watch – and certainly the cheapest way in the UK right now.