Don’t expect to read reviews of Game of Thrones’ season six premiere before it airs in April. HBO has decided against sending out press screeners, likely in an effort to keep spoilers hidden and, more importantly, to combat piracy.
HBO programming president Michael Lombardo told Entertainment Weekly that the network has decided against sending out DVD or online streaming screeners to the media. It’s the first time HBO has done this with Game of Thrones.
“We’re not sending out press copies this year, anywhere in the world,” Lombardo said. “There will be no copies for review.”
The decision should not be a surprise. After all, it’s not like bad reviews would suddenly stop fans from watching the most-watched show in HBO’s history. In addition, it will help the network keep spoilers from fans, especially since the show has passed the stories in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels.
But the most important concern the network has is piracy. Once again, the show was listed as the most-pirated TV program for the fourth year in a row. TorrentFreak reported in December that episodes were downloaded 14.4 million times on BitTorrent. Season 5’s early episodes leaked to BitTorrent last year after they were released to the press.
Lombardo told EW that showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss suggested that no press screeners be released and HBO brass agreed.
“When you have press copies, inevitably friends ask, ‘Can I see your copy?’ There are things that happen. We talked about the upsides and downsides,” Lombardo told the magazine. “Some of the press are fans who might be disappointed, but they’ll understand.”
Game of Thrones returns on Sunday, April 24 at 9 p.m.