‘Game of Thrones’ Season 5 episodes have leaked online before the first episode even airs.
According to reports, illegal downloads of unaired episodes have reached 500,000 in less than 12 hours.
From Variety:
The first four episodes of “Game of Thrones” season five cropped up on on piracy networks late Saturday — nearly a full day before HBO’s scheduled April 12 premiere of the popular fantasy series.
The episodes appeared on torrent sites sometime between 9 and 10 p.m. ET Saturday. Through 7 a.m. Sunday, the leaked “Game of Thrones” eps had been downloaded by more than 550,000 individual clients worldwide, according to piracy-tracking firm Excipio — and by 9 a.m., the figure was up to 778,985. The pirated “GoT” episodes are legitimate copies, Excipio said; the source of the leak is unclear at this point but some outlets have speculated that it came from a press screener.
“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,” said HBO in a statement. “We’re actively assessing how this breach occurred.”
‘Game of Thrones’ has been extremely popular on piracy networks in the last couple of years. ‘Game of Thrones’ was the most pirated show of 2014, with more than 48 million episodes downloaded by pirates. It is not hard to believe either, ‘Game of Thrones’ has won numerous awards and nominations, including a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Drama Series for its first four seasons, a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Television Series – Drama, a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation in both Long Form and Short Form, and aPeabody Award. Among the ensemble cast, Peter Dinklage has won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his performance as Tyrion Lannister. And fans love the show. All seasons were listed on several yearly “best of” lists published by Washington Post , TIME and The Hollywood Reporter. Seasons 2 through 5 obtained a Metacritic rating of 90 or more, which the website rates “universal acclaim”. In 2013, the Writers Guild of America placed Game of Thrones in the fortieth place on the list of the 101 best-written TV series.
If you wanted to watch the first episodes of ‘Game of Thrones’ season 6 all you have to do is talk to your “friend” who illegal downloads TV shows and movies and asks for a copy.
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