Paul Tassi reports at Forbes that the first four episodes of the new season of Game of Thrones, nearly half of the ten total episodes, have been leaked online to various torrent sites. The four episodes appeared to come from a screener sent to reviewers with the digital watermark blurred out and are in 480p resolution, equivalent to standard-definition TV, not HD. The episodes have already been downloaded a million times, and that figure is expected to climb by the season 5 premiere. Game of Thrones has consistently set records for piracy, which has almost been a point of pride for HBO. "Our experience is [piracy] 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."
How the leak happened isn't a mystery. Television critics typically receive the first four episodes of an HBO show before its season premiere, and Game of Thrones is no exception. HBO could not immediately say whether the leak could be traced to screener copies of the show. "I suspect HBO may be a bit more restrictive about handing out Game of Thrones screeners to press, given the event-like nature of the show and its reliance on keeping spoilers close to the chest," writes Tassi. "I really don't see why commentary like that needs to exist in the first place." The network can take solace in at least one thing, though. Episode four ends on a heck of a cliffhanger, and those who pirated the episodes will be in the same boat as those of us who received them legally — waiting until May to find out what happens next. "I would imagine it's more fun to just spend the next month watching week to week as nature intended, even if you are watching illegally," concludes Tassi. "Game of Thrones is one of the last true "event" shows where it's something you want to talk about Sunday night or Monday morning with friends and strangers alike."
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 13 2015, @04:36PM
study the crimes committed by entertainment journalists here:
http://kickass.to/usearch/game%20of%20thrones%20age:week%20season:5/ [kickass.to]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by sock on Monday April 13 2015, @04:41PM
"its reliance on keeping spoilers close to the chest,"
I thought there were already loads of Game of Thrones spoilers out there? All written down in a load of books...
(Score: 5, Informative) by WizardFusion on Monday April 13 2015, @04:49PM
While true, I heard that they are moving more and more away from the books
This was in a Jon Stewart interview with Peter Dinklage.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday April 13 2015, @04:57PM
About 15 years ago I really pissed off some "Band of Brothers" viewers by talking about the real world exploits of the 101st. Yeah that time they took on 9 German armored divisions in Bastogne, holy cow... There have been about a zillion books written about the 101st and I'm sure I picked it out of some historical military novel.
I haven't watched the game of thrones but I would imagine that much like the BoB miniseries there was a lot of dramatic license that isn't historical but makes for a dramatic story.
I never watched the BoB when it came out, and recently watched it, and found the shit-talking about the officers to be remarkably squirmy and uncomfortable; whats more uncomfortable, some dude who gets trashed while still being alive and gray haired, or trash talking the recently dead? This is something GoT has going for it, a couple centuries later that uncomfortable aspect of the story is long gone.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 13 2015, @06:07PM
I haven't watched the game of thrones (...) dramatic license that isn't historical but makes for a dramatic story.
This is something GoT has going for it, a couple centuries later
I don't watch TV and haven't read a page of Martin's work since "Sandkings" in the 80's and even I understand what's wrong with this. Have I been trolled?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @02:44AM
Maybe he heard that GoT was originally planned as a War of the Roses historical fiction and never heard all of the fire and ice stuff.
(Score: 4, Funny) by snick on Monday April 13 2015, @05:15PM
DON'T TELL ME! DON'T TELL ME!!
Does someone die?
(Score: 2) by GeminiDomino on Monday April 13 2015, @08:55PM
Silly. EVERYONE dies.
"We've been attacked by the intelligent, educated segment of our culture"
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 13 2015, @11:47PM
Valar Morghulis
(Score: 2) by tathra on Tuesday April 14 2015, @04:13AM
everyone except Jon Snow.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by tynin on Monday April 13 2015, @07:02PM
Sadly we are at a point now, where we've basically caught up to many of the plot points in the Song of Ice and Fire book series. The Game of Thrones TV show is actually going to start revealing what hasn't been released on paper yet. As someone who has read every book since he started the series, well before it was famous (even bought some shirts his wife made long long ago), I'm pretty pissed that the TV show is going to spoil the books for me. He has gotten so slow on releasing the books that there is no way he can catch up. Because of that, I'm done reading them, not buying them, and encouraging others to do the same. He's already given HBO everything they need to finish his story just in case he goes and Robert Jordans himself. I'll watch the show and let that be the end of it, I'm not going to have him spoil the books on me and expect me to later pay for that privilege.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by snick on Monday April 13 2015, @07:05PM
You are assuming that you will live long enough to see the next book.
(Score: 2) by tynin on Monday April 13 2015, @07:33PM
So true.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday April 14 2015, @09:19AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Monday April 13 2015, @04:41PM
After their nasty little iOS-only deal, I can't say I feel that bad for them.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by TK-421 on Monday April 13 2015, @04:52PM
My understanding is that "lock" only lasts a few months. I suspect Apple paid for that privilege and if I were HBO (strictly shooting from the hip here) I also would have taken it. It's three months, the un-cabled world has lived for decades without access to HBO's library what is another three months in the grand scheme of things? HBO gets paid, buzz gets generated, Apple fanboy stereotypes get solidified, and if the whole thing is a horrible flop HBO can just let it quietly die with Apple.
I am more intrigued by the piracy. A major subscription service is openly claiming that piracy helps them in more ways than it hurts them. DRM advocates everywhere have probably scheduled an emergency meeting to discuss how to contain the situation.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday April 13 2015, @05:07PM
I also thought the piracy aspect was interesting.
"Game of Thrones is one of the last true "event" shows where it's something you want to talk about Sunday night or Monday morning with friends and strangers alike."
Its called "sports" gentlemen. There's a lot more than just one. Not being into sports, I none the less have to sit thru monday morning quarterbacking all the time at work meetings etc. Nothing is more important early monday morning than (insert ball team here) and nothing is less important than whatever they did last week. Next weeks game is valueless, two weeks ago is valueless, all that matters is the most recent ball game.
One interesting aspect is nobody traffics in bootleg copies of Packers-Bears games from the 80s. Its topical but has no legs for long term sales. So they're signalling that they don't expect to get much dough by selling DVD box sets or whatever. They seem to be merchandising the property to death by licensing so maybe not so unlikely.
Another interesting aspect is gift sales... you can't sell ME a box set of star trek series, but you CAN sell my wife/kids/parents a star trek DVD box series to give me as a gift on christmas/fathers day/birthday/wtf day. Maybe they're giving up on individual DVD sales and relying on gift sales of DVDs where piracy doesn't matter. A billion "pirate" copies don't matter in the marketplace if my daughter insists on gifting a DVD of "TOS:Space Hippies" for me on father's day.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Monday April 13 2015, @05:22PM
Football is the only thing keeping me from cutting the cord, although the recent antics of the Chargers is pissing me off.
One game I'd like to re-watch is the blizzard bowl: Chargers/Bengals, in a blizzard, in the 80s.
Of course I'm against DEI. Donald, Eric, and Ivanka.
(Score: 1) by SacredSalt on Tuesday April 14 2015, @04:56AM
For me its hockey that keeps me from cutting the cord, but cable/dish/whatever goes bye bye every other summer as I have no use for it then.
When I worked sales I almost had to the watch the basketball, football, and baseball games. At a minimum I had to watch the highlight reels on sports center. I'm not a football fan, but the highlight reels aren't bad. The problem with some of that stuff and sales is if a team in the city/cities you work has won a championship you better have actually seen the game because people will talk about for years to come, and its bad form in sales not to be a part of that conversation.
I don't think the 'piracy' really hurts HBO here. It would be one thing if the entire season was released in advance, but 4 episodes? No one is going to be cancelling HBO for three weeks. The people who were going to download it anyway just end up with a poorer copy if they are impatient. There was a good point in there about gift sales being virtually unaffected. I downloaded every single episode of 'The Wire', but my sister in law still me the box set because she knew I was into it. I don't think I would have purchased it on my own.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Nerdfest on Monday April 13 2015, @09:36PM
I don't care how long it is. It's giving the finger to a large portion of it's customers, frequently those are are *opposed* to being locked into something (standard connections, etc). The Game of Thrones episodes are something that people want to see *now* and HBO just gave those that aren't iFans the middle finger. I have HBO now, but when it comes to cord cutting time they'll get the same from me. It's greedy, consumer hostile behaviour.
(Score: 3, Funny) by TK-421 on Tuesday April 14 2015, @02:46AM
I was about to write a pithy comment about how I was one of the two people who bought a Windows Phone and how I was used to getting the middle finger from the app community. Then I realized that you just might be the other purchaser. Having experienced this epiphany I can only say..."Welcome friend!"
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Techwolf on Monday April 13 2015, @04:58PM
Been hearing and seeing all the hupla around Games of Thrones. On a hunch, I did a torrnet search for full seasons in the new x265/HEVC and found season one blueray ripped one. Downloaded and watch the first two eposides yesterday. I now think why this show is so popular, I like it and is planning on watching the rest of the seasons when I get time. So the pirate version helped gain another fan. :-)
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 13 2015, @05:09PM
x265/HEVC is really nice, isn't it?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Techwolf on Monday April 13 2015, @05:20PM
Yep. One of my auto-download shows came in at 150Megs size, so thinking it was corrupted I almost deleted it, but for shit and giggles, desided to play it to see how well MPV can handle corrupted files. It started ok and looked really good for a 720p capture, so I fast forward it a few times and never hit the end....I was like WTH? After a bit of digging and that when I discovered this new x265 stuff. Now it a battle between the "free" VP9 and x265/HEVC. I hope VP9 wins out as anybody can use that without worry about patent trolls. With google backing, we may end up with hardware decoders that can handle both VP9 and x265. One can hope. :-)
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Monday April 13 2015, @05:32PM
Now if there would be hardware decoders that would only do VP9.. ;)
And of course lot of content in VP9.
(btw, is VP9 the best free video codec currently?)
(Score: 2) by Techwolf on Monday April 13 2015, @05:24PM
Follow up to reply. I would be buying blueray of some shows except for one problem, to my knowage, there is no Linux blue-ray player out there. While there is hardware 5 1/4 bluray drives, none to my knowage can be used by Linux.
(Score: 2) by tathra on Tuesday April 14 2015, @04:21AM
its popular because of all the dicks. [youtube.com]
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Tuesday April 14 2015, @07:23AM
I now think why this show is so popular
It's the boobies, isn't it? Always with the boobies.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday April 13 2015, @05:25PM
It has yet to be demonstrated that the industry loses money to piracy, or in this case, to leaks. They SAY they lose money, but I call bullshit.
It is easily demonstrated that the industry is arbitrary and capricious in their distribution of entertainment. Ask any Australian, or even better, ask any third world nation citizen. If the distributors have their way, Ozzies get their entertainment six months late, at exorbitant prices, IF, and only IF the government decides that they are permitted to watch it.
Screw the studios, the distributors, and everyone associated with the entertainment industry. I'll throw my coins to the indies, thank you very much.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 13 2015, @06:00PM
Piracy of GoT probably also affects OTHER TV series/shows.
That said I doubt many people will downgrade to cheaper TV packages just because they can torrent GoT.
And the collectors are still going to buy the blurays, directors cuts etc. How many of the non-collectors who watched the whole series via HBO are going to buy the box sets at full price to watch it again?
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday April 14 2015, @10:25AM
Erm, no, they say: "Our experience is [piracy] leads to more penetration, more paying subs, more health for HBO, less reliance on having to do paid advertising...
Maybe read TFS next time?
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by CirclesInSand on Monday April 13 2015, @05:32PM
I wonder how this leak affects their advertising revenue. It might not change the revenue for this particular release, but future releases may be affected.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday April 13 2015, @05:48PM
No ads on HBO.
They also gave me the whole week-end for free, to try to hook me, and boost the GoT premiere numbers. That's their way of attracting more subscribers.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday April 13 2015, @05:48PM
It's HBO. Their bank is from subscriber revenue. And the company seems to indicate that the piracy buzz outweighs any lost subscriber revenue or cord-cutting. Maybe they leaked the episodes themselves.
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(Score: 2) by CirclesInSand on Monday April 13 2015, @06:09PM
That just changes the question to one of subscriber revenue. Being able to get episodes in advance for free might dissuade people from subscribing and having to wait anyway.
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Monday April 13 2015, @06:27PM
The strategy is to count on torrenters to amplify the hype so that tens of millions of people hear about it. Many people will never torrent. Plus, some studies have shown pirates to be bigger spenders on media.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 13 2015, @05:56PM
The funnier outcome would be if their viewership does not diminish despite the leaks... I'd love to see them try to explain that shit!
(Score: 2) by CirclesInSand on Monday April 13 2015, @06:11PM
Or if the episodes were less interesting than previous seasons, and word gets around, subscription viewing may even decrease. And it would be blamed on piracy rather than quality.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @02:10PM
easy... you can always spin it if you start from the position you DESERVE customers money.
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Monday April 13 2015, @07:28PM
For those of you who can't stand the wait between episodes (or series) of GoT let me make a recommendation: Black Sails. [tv.com] Series 2 just finished, series 3 is confirmed. Imagine all the defining elements of GoT (great characters, complex politics, mostly unknown but highly capable cast, machiavellian schemes, immersive effects & sets, bloody violence & gore, tits) but without the magical/ supernatural bits, and WITH PIRATES! It's pretty awesome. Me and the Mrs have been glued to it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 13 2015, @08:17PM
(great characters, complex politics, mostly unknown but highly capable cast, machiavellian schemes, immersive effects & sets, bloody violence & gore, tits [, and fruit])
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 13 2015, @09:51PM
You're making this sound like a Blackadder remake!
(Score: 1) by wisnoskij on Monday April 13 2015, @09:32PM
I would of agreed with you, but I just got well into Season 2.
Spoiler Alert: The action adventure prequel to Treasure Island, is in fact just a gay pirate romance, where all of the protagonist's actions are because of the loss of a gay lover he had a two week fling with a decade ago.
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Tuesday April 14 2015, @10:43PM
Hm. interesting that all the explicit gay ( female) pirate action in season one didn't turn you away, it's only when two guys briefly kiss in season two you decide to write it off as a 'gay pirate romance'. The fact that part of one character's motivation is the loss his same sex lover takes nothing away from the series.
Oh, and he's clearly bi, not gay.
(Score: 1) by wisnoskij on Tuesday April 14 2015, @10:57PM
It is not the gay sex, actually I do not remember any gay kiss up to where I had watched (The only kiss I remember was when he was trying to create the rumor that we was having sex with his gay lovers wife), just the knowledge that an affair happened. Look at my other comment, I am recommending Spartacus which contains loads and loads of explicit male on male sex scenes and it was a far better show than either BS or GoT. It is the fact that it is the corniest, most ridiculous, stupidest backstory and reason that could of been devised. The entire motivation of the show is based on this guy's 2 week affair. It takes everything away from the series.
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Tuesday April 14 2015, @11:36PM
Didn't know anything about Spartacus,sorry about that. The affair (probably not the right term since the wife was very much in on it, but anyway...) is just a part of his motivation. He is also motivated by a desire to legitimise nassau. Besides which, I never about the impression it was a two week fling. At one point he is described as his true love. Also, what happens is more than just the loss of a lover to flint, it's proof that the society and civilisation he has been fighting for can be as cruel, merciless and arbitrary as the pirates, and that men who feel the way he does about other men aren't welcome. In that context I don't think his actions are particularly unrealistic. Bear in mind also that he was being publicly shamed for his sexuality, and could easily have faced the gallows for it. Running off to sea and becoming a pirate doesn't seem unlikely at all.
(Score: 1) by wisnoskij on Tuesday April 14 2015, @11:53PM
"men who feel the way he does about other men aren't welcome"
I really wonder if you watched that particular scene all that closely. All of that happened because he was publicly thought to be having an affair with the wife in that powerful man's (the father I believe of his gay lover) house where he also insulted him and asked him to leave.
"At one point he is described as his true love."
Which is the problem. It is obvious that they did not take years to devise the plan, "lets get some ships, invade and get back our colony". If they started the affair on day one I imagine that at most they had a month, probably far less. And it is very obvious that his obsession with turning Nassau around is because of his lost "love".
(Score: 1) by wisnoskij on Wednesday April 15 2015, @12:12AM
hmm. Rewatched it right not it is not obvious. No one ever says what the horrible thing he did was. I would think sleeping with the wife and insulting the Lord in his own house would be more than enough to be discharged. And they spread the rumor of that affair so it would obviously be more easy to find out. That said If they had found out the homosexual affair that would seem to be more fitting with the exact words used to reprimand him with. So maybe you are right.
(Score: 1) by wisnoskij on Monday April 13 2015, @09:52PM
Spartacus. Way better.
(Score: 2) by tathra on Tuesday April 14 2015, @04:40AM
there's pretty much nothing supernatural or magic in Game of Thrones. there's plenty in A Song of Ice and Fire, but it was pretty much all taken out for the show. i don't think the show even explained that seasons on that world literally last years, like the summer where the show/books is taking place has lasted a decade or two (thats why "winter is coming" is so chilling a saying - winter lasts years, the upcoming one, with the long night coming with it, will probably last decades); this is very much due to something supernatural and will be a key plot point in the next 2 books and the resolution of the series (the show will probably dumb it all down to some stupid action scenes between r'hllor and the great other). the return of magic to the world is also a key plot point in the books (along with the reasons why it vanished and why its returning), but the show hasn't really shown any magic at all or even really shown that it ever existed in the world. they even took out a magic sword or two that are key to the plot.
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Tuesday April 14 2015, @10:34PM
Seen the show, not yet read the books, and I have to disagree:
Spoilers....
The long season thing is made clear. In terms of magic you have the frost zombie guys north of the wall, which are showcased form episode 1 iirc. Then there's the dragons and Dragon woman's impervious to fire, the voodoo used on drogo, and of course that disturbing scene
where crazy fire priestess lady gives birth to some kind of ninja smoke demon. oh, and that guy who keeps coming back from the dead. And the enigmatic face-changing assassin dude. Magic isn't overused in GoT (tv) by any means, but it leaves no doubt that it is set in a magical realm.
(Score: 2) by tathra on Wednesday April 15 2015, @12:51AM
ah, yeah, there is just a little bit. it'll be this season or next when they should cover why magic is returning and the reason it vanished in the first place. Thoros of Myr (the red priest of the capital, the one who keeps reviving that one guy) specifically makes a comment in the books about how he had no powers as a priest of r'hllor until just recently, and even though mellisandre can create shadows and cast glamours, most of her "magic" is just alchemy tricks; i don't remember if she said she was powerless before like Thoros. its not clear that the faceless men use magic to change their face, they should show that in another episode or 2 (beyond the leaked ones).