Upcoming "Game of Thrones" episodes leaked to the public a day before Sunday's Season 5 premiere, and more than a million people have already illegally downloaded them.
"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. We're actively assessing how this breach occurred," the premium cable network announced Sunday,
USA Today reported.
The episodes appear to have been first uploaded to the private torrent tracker IPT, and were soon copied to public piracy. The episodes were uploaded in standard definition, while the official broadcasts are in high definition.
"Game of Thrones" has been the most pirated TV show over the past three years.
It's in part because of this piracy, some entertainment professionals have conjectured, that HBO has sought to make it easier for those without cable subscriptions to watch HBO over the Internet.
Over the past few years, those with an HBO subscription could watch on-demand TV and movies via the HBO Go app, however this month the network launched its first standalone Internet-only subscription, HBO Now.
HBO Now, available for the time being through Apple and Optimum Online, costs $14.99 month.
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