HBO will simulcast Game of Thrones to 170 countries

This is another attempt from HBO to stop Game of Thrones from being the most pirated show on TV

Look, I'm sorry to break it to you, but HBO knows you are pirating Game of Thrones. For three years in a row, it has been named the most pirated show of the year. Three years in a row!

HBO does have a few tricks up its sleeve to get you to stop illegally downloading its most popular show, including the recently announced stand-alone service HBO Now, but that still doesn't solve one of the biggest problems with online piracy: the international audiences, who don't always get shows at the same time we do in the United States.

Now HBO has the solution. It announced on Tuesday that it will broadcast the show around the world at the same time. Yup, you read that right: Game of Thrones will be simulcast in over 170 countries so that everyone in the world can see it at the exact same time.

The first episode will be premiere on April 12th, at 9 PM eastern standard time. That means it will on 6 PM on the west coast, 6:30 AM the following day in New Dehli, 9 AM the following day in Beijing, and 2 PM the following day in New Zealand, and 2 AM the following day in Paris. So some people might have to set their DVRs for this one.

The best news: this is not just happening for the premiere, but for the entire 10 week long season.

Participating in the simulcast are HBO Asia, HBO Canada, HBO Europe, HBO Latin America, HBO Netherlands and HBO Nordic, as well as some international “Home of HBO” services, suchas Africa/M-Net, Australia/Foxtel, Belgium(Flemish)/Telenet, France/Orange, Iceland/365 Media, Israel/DBS, Sky Deutschland, Sky Italia and SKY New Zealand. 

Also included are some HBO licensing partners including Belgium(French)/Betv, Greece/Intervision, Russia/Amedia and Spain/DTS.

“We are thrilled to see our international partners jumping on board to bring Game of Thrones, one of the most universally loved television shows in the world, to global audiences at the same time it airs on HBO in the U.S.,” said Michael Lombardo, President, HBO Programming.

As I said earlier, in the last few years HBO seems to have completely lost control over how people consume Game of Thrones. The finale of season 4 alone was downloaded more than 8 million times via BitTorrent. In 2013, the show was pirated 5.9 million times.

The number of illegal downloads in 2014 eclipsed it's 7.1 million-person viewership.

These numbers also led to the creation of HBO's long-awaited stand-alone service, HBO Now. It will cost $14.99 per month and will offer access to HBO's entirely library of original shows, both past and present, as well as its feature films catalog. It will premiere in time for the first episode of Game of Thrones.

In a slightly frustrating move, though, it was also revealed that Apple is to be the exclusive launch partner for the new service; that means that users will only be able to stream HBO through Apple TV for the time being.

Still, it's a move in the right direction, and we all have Game of Thrones, and the willingness of so many people to openly break the law, to thank for it.

(Image source: fond-ecran.net)