Roku to Stream First Season of ‘Game of Thrones’ for Free Later This Month

By Janko Roettgers

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Ready to start over on “Game of Thrones,” or finally give it a try if you never watched it in the first place? Streaming device maker Roku is giving its customers another chance to watch the first season of the hit show, as well as a number of other popular shows, for free through the Channel later this month.

As part of a promotion the company calls Stream-a-thon, Roku will stream the first full seasons of “,” “Warrior,” “Billions,” “The Affair,” and “Ray Donovan,” among other shows, from 12/26 to 1/1 2020. Roku will also stream the entire first season of the Starz show “Power” throughout December.

What’s more, the company will also stream individual episodes of a number of shows that are typically only available through paid streaming services. These include episodes of the HBO shows “Westworld,” “Big Little Lies,” “Barry,” “Chernobyl,” “Euphoria,” “Sesame Street” and “Succession,” as well as the Showtime show “Kidding,” and the Epix shows “Get Shorty,” “Pennyworth,” and “Punk.”

Roku launched the Roku Channel a little over 2 years ago as an ad-supported video service featuring free movies and TV shows. Since then, the company has not only added live programming, and kids content, but also subscription video services like HBO and Showtime.

At the end of 2019, the Roku Channel is offering access to over 80,000 movies and TV show episodes, as well as more than 40 subscription video services, according to company information. The Roku Channel is available on Roku streaming devices, Roku TVs, mobile devices, the web and select Samsung smart TVs.