The First Episode of the Touted House of Cards Is Free on Netflix

Netflix is creating quite a stir with the premiere of its "House of Cards" series. Starring Kevin Spacey and directed by David Fincher, it's not hard to imagine why. It's not Netflix's first in-house series, but it has the biggest profile.

Netflix is making the most of it too, the entire 12 episodes of the first season have debuted on the same day, today, so if you're prone to binge watching, hold off until tomorrow at least.

To make sure it gets the most exposure out of the premiere, Netflix is also airing the first episode for free, you don't need to pay anything, you don't even need to sign up.

Just head on over to Netflix's House of Cards page, click on the big red Series Premiere button and enjoy the first episode. If you like what you see, you'll have to sign up for Netflix; but if you're just curious about the series, it doesn't get any easier to try it out.

This also highlights one of the advantages Netflix has over traditional cable networks. Not only is the entire season available from the get-go, but you can also watch the first episode for free, whenever you want without much hassle. Obviously, this only works where Netflix is available.

What's more, if you have an Xbox 360, all of Netflix is free this weekend so you can check out anything you want on the service without paying anything.