The latest episode of a popular series usually hits file-sharing networks a few minutes after it airs on TV. Yes, I said minutes—it's not an exaggeration. With an hour's head start (or less), anyone who knows how to search will find subtitles. But what happened with Game of Thrones over the last weekend takes the word 'leak' to a whole new dimension. Four episodes, almost half a season, appeared online as if nothing had happened. How could something like this happen, and what is HBO thinking?
A Devastating Leak
It's like Homer Simpson leaving the cinema and telling the whole line that Darth Vader is Luke's father, or someone stealing the Olympic torch two hundred meters before it reaches the stadium. We all know that the first episode of the fifth season of Game of Thrones debuted last Sunday, and it also marked the first demanding test of the new streaming service that HBO put online to extend its simultaneous premiere across 170 countries. However, during Saturday night the BitTorrent world was completely shaken. Not one, but the first four episodes of the fifth season appeared online. They might be in DVD resolution and have a blurry watermark—two details that many users seem to have clung to in order not to watch them in advance—but that's not the point. The point is the content, and the content leaked.
It's very hard to keep secrets these days. Famous people are tempting targets, and the same can be said of their work. Madonna had to move up the release of Rebel Heart three months due to leaks, which by the way were unfinished demos. The four episodes of Game of Thrones are complete. Not a missing effect, not a missing sound. HBO has repeated the same statement over the last few days: "The leak originated within a group approved by HBO" to receive the episodes. HBO has a service especially dedicated to the playback of screeners, early versions for critics, journalists, distributors, and other TV professionals. But even so, it sent physical DVDs with the episodes to the press. Watermarks (visible and invisible) are being removed more easily, and a great proof of that were the screeners of Oscar-nominated films that also leaked.
Some believe that with such a leak, the early DVD is doomed. Others think any attempt to force critics to watch episodes on their computers could have consequences when evaluating content. HBO Now is a step in the right direction, but still has too many restrictions to become something similar to Netflix. The relative silence from HBO makes us think there must be blood running through its corridors, but in the end, the company is the main responsible party, and free publicity always helps soften the blow...
Source: Ars Technica
