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New Game of Thrones episode mistakenly released on HBO

Posted at 12:03 PM, Aug 16, 2017
and last updated 2017-08-16 12:03:28-04

It’s been a tricky few weeks for one of the world’s hottest TV shows.

Another episode of “Game of Thrones” was released on Tuesday, the second confirmed leak to hit season seven.

Production company HBO said the episode was mistakenly made available on its streaming platforms in Spain, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland.

“We have learned that the upcoming episode of Game of Thrones was accidentally posted for a brief time on the HBO Nordic and HBO España platforms,” said Tom Nielsen, a spokesman for HBO Europe. “The error appears to have originated with a third party vendor and the episode was removed as soon as it was recognized.”

Episode six is due to air on Sunday. It has reportedly been copied and shared online on multiple sites.

The fantasy series is one of the most popular and acclaimed shows on television. Over 16 million viewers tuned in for the season premiere in July, according to HBO.

Indian police said Tuesday they had arrested four men suspected of leaking a different episode of “Game of Thrones” before its scheduled release on August 7. The suspects were connected with Star India, which has the rights to air the series in the country.

The man all worked for Prime Focus Technologies, an independent firm that handles Star India’s data, police said.

According to Star India and HBO Europe, neither leak was connected with a cyberattack on HBO last month.

HBO, which like CNN is owned by Time Warner, said in late July it was investigating a hack targeting its shows.

HBO CEO Richard Plepler said at the time that the attack resulted in “some stolen proprietary information, including some of our programming.”

It’s unclear what information the hackers stole. According to Entertainment Weekly, which first reported the attack, hackers published the alleged script to a new “Game of Thrones” show and episodes of two other shows.

Season seven is not the first to be blighted by leaks. In 2015, the first four episodes of the fifth season were leaked shortly after the premiere. The leaked episodes originated “from within a group approved by HBO to receive them,” HBO said at the time.