HBO Go to get ep 7 a week early

HBO is really pushing their new online streaming service HBO Go, which is available only to HBO subscribers. We have already noted that they have added a bunch of cool special features for Game of Thrones episodes. And now HBO has announced that they will stream episode seven of Thrones on HBO Go a week before it airs. The Hollywood Reporter has the story:

The executive [HBO co-president Eric Kessler] on Tuesday also said that HBO Go will exclusively make available the following week’s episode of new HBO hit Game of Thrones right after the May 22 episode, which ends with a cliffhanger that Kessler said will entice fans to immediately see what happens next. The move is part of a plan to offer exclusive content windows on HBO Go to “encourage registration” of users for the service, he said.

Winter Is Coming: An interesting move. Not sure I agree with it as one of the appeals of Game of Thrones, and HBO shows in general, is that it is event TV. This would seem to detract from that. At least it is only for one week.

It does present a unique situation for how to handle the early release here on Winter-Is-Coming.net. Would people like to see a recap of episode seven go up soon after the episode six recap? Or should we stick to the usual Sun night recaps? The other idea that was proposed was to have a thread where those who didn’t want to wait and watched the episode on HBO Go could discuss the show. And then we would post our recap at the usual time. Obviously any episode spoilers outside of that thread would not be tolerated. What does everyone else think? Do most of you plan to watch online or wait to see it in HD on your TV?

• Published on 05/11/2011 at 8:10 AM CDT
• Last updated on 05/11/2011 at 8:10 AM CDT