HBO Changes Screener Policy After Game of Thrones Leaks
By Sam Rideout
HBO announced they will be making the switch to streaming-only screeners in the wake of the Game of Thrones leaks a few, short weeks ago, according to Variety. In the past, HBO would send out hard copies, but it seems they’ve made the move to go strictly streaming.
Prior to the Season 5 premiere of Game of Thrones, four episodes from the fifth season of Game of Thrones leaked online and were illegally downloaded, probably, millions of times. HBO was able to track the leak back to screeners sent out before the season to media members.
For those unfamiliar with the process, networks typically send out screeners to the media so the show can be reviewed before the first episode airs. It gives reviewers a bit of an advantage over the public, but it also starts to generate buzz surrounding the show. It’s used as a marketing tool, essentially.
It seems a little pre-2010s that HBO and other networks still send out screeners, especially with the rise of streaming sites across the internet. As we know, people are stuck in the way they do things, and it’s hard to get them to change.
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HBO might be on to something here, though.
It’s not like Game of Thrones is the first show or movie to have the screener posted online and illegally downloaded. According to the report, many networks already have some streaming aspect to the screener process these days; however, many places still do send out hard copies of screeners, especially movies nominated for awards.
Everything appears to be headed toward streaming and away from hard copies of any TV show or movie. In the future, it will be very interesting to see if the screener process entirely switches to streaming. It makes sense to do that, although it does open up networks to piracy and hackers trying to get the “streaming screener,” anyway.
It will be a process, but it’s interesting to see HBO make this move so quickly.
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