Sky Atlantic Confirms They Will NOT Be Part of Game of Thrones Simulcast

Two days ago, HBO took the unprecedented step of announcing a new defense against spoilers, and a new step in making Game of Thrones a global phenomenon by announcing the entirety of Season 5 will simulcast in 170 countries around the world. But there was one glaring omission from the press release. Sky Atlantic in the UK, the homeland of nearly the entire cast, was not on the list. Could the UK–where Game of Thrones rivals the US in popularity numbers–really not be taking part?

Apparently so. Sky Atlantic confirmed yesterday that in fact, it will not be taking part in the simulcast–despite the fact that the channel went to a lot of trouble last year to do exactly that with the premiere and it was regarded as a success.

See what fans are doing about this below.

First of all,. Sky Atlantic–which relies on a lot of American television to fill it’s programming, has put out a statement defending the decision not to sign on.

“We know it’s a ‘watercooler’ show,” a Sky Atlantic spokesperson told RadioTimes.com, “so while we experimented with simulcasting the premiere episode of series four, we plan to premiere each new episode of series five at 9pm GMT on Sky Atlantic in order to encourage UK fans to watch, enjoy and discuss their favourite show together.

“The new, fifth season of Game of Thrones will premiere in the UK at 9pm on Monday 13th April on Sky Atlantic, the day after it returns in the US.”

This is a choice only by the UK based Sky Atlantic. As the original HBO press release statement points out, other Sky Networks in the Sky PLC conglomerate are taking part, such as Sky Deutschland, Sky Italia. SKY New Zealand, which is not actually owned by Sky PLC is also taking part. (New Zealand is not a surprise. The entire country has gone Thrones crazy since the casting of homegrown star Keisha Castle Hughes, and in fact just finished running running a pop up digital channel that aired nothing but GoT episodes, specials and DVD extras for the entire month of February.)

Why exactly Sky Atlantic is refusing to play ball is unclear. UK fans have always had major trouble with spoilers, especially because there is no language barrier between it and the US. The HBO Now exclusive deal with Apple may be a factor. Reports yesterday also stated that UK fans would not be included in the HBO Now deal.

Fams are understandably upset–after all, if anyone should be taking part in this simulcast, it should be the UK. There is a petition up currently to try and get the company to change its mind.

• Published on 03/12/2015 at 8:30 AM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 1:06 PM CDT