Why the newest 'Game of Thones' leak isn't that surprising
It may finally feel like spring, but for 鈥淕ame of Thrones鈥� fans, winter has been a long time coming and some, it seems, just couldn鈥檛 wait. A day before the premiere of Season 5, which kicks off on聽Sunday at 聽9 p.m. ET, the first four episodes were leaked online.
The episodes showed up on several torrent sites between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET on Saturday, and by Sunday morning had been downloaded over one million times. The sent to the reviewers in advance, but the watermark codes, used to track early release copies, have been blurred out.
"Sadly, it seems the leaked four episodes of the upcoming season of 'Game of Thrones' originated from within a group approved by HBO to receive them," the company . "We're actively assessing how this breach occurred."
Despite by having the show air in as many countries as possible at roughly the same time, the leak is hardly unexpected.
With eight million downloads, 鈥淕ame of Thrones鈥� was the most pirated show of 2014. It also when nearly 200,000 people simultaneously shared a single file of the second episode of Season 4, known to fans as 鈥淭he Purple Wedding鈥� 鈥撀爊ot to be confused with 鈥淭he Red Wedding鈥� of Season 3.
Additionally, the show already when a cell phone captured footage of the Season 5 trailer prior to its release. And the purported leaker from this latest breach noted that, while he or she was only going to release four episodes Saturday evening, more may be coming, .
HBO has long been a victim of piracy, as it is available only in certain parts of the world and requires a paid subscription and, until recently, access to cable.
"Basically, we've been dealing with this issue for years with HBO, literally 20, 30 years, where people have always been running wires down on the back of apartment buildings and sharing with their neighbors," Jeff Bewkes, CEO of Time Warner, "Our experience is, it all leads to more penetration, more paying subs, more health for HBO, less reliance on having to do paid advertising. If you go around the world, I think you're right, Game of Thrones is the most pirated show in the world. Well, you know, that's better than an Emmy."
But in an effort that may curb piracy slightly, HBO rolled out its stand-alone streaming service HBO Now on Tuesday, just in time for the season premiere of 鈥淕ame of Thrones.鈥� This new model will allow access to all of HBO鈥檚 content for $15 per month regardless of whether the user has a cable subscription.
