Game of Thrones episode 6 airs early in Spain by mistake

Spanish TV viewers are so lucky! HBO Spain aired Game of Thrones season seven episode 6 for an hour by mistake Tuesday. It was taken down, but not before being swiped by online fans.

HBO really can’t catch a break. The network that’s been dealing with the aftermath of a massive hack, episode leaks, and a campaign to kill one of their upcoming shows suffered another embarrassing blow Tuesday when their Spanish arm accidentally aired Game of Thrones season 7 episode 6 four days early. Yikes. The episode was reportedly only up for an hour, but that was plenty of time for online viewers to scrape the episode and post it on sites like Reddit, Instagram, YouTube, and other sites.

HBO has yet to comment on the screw-up. While we won’t be linking to any of the sites hosting the “leaked” footage here, the Independent says it’s confirmed that the episode is authentic and in HD (which is more than the Indian leakers could say for episode 4 when they shared it). A similar situation apparently unfolded last season as well with the Nordic arm of HBO.

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So, yes, this is a bad look for HBO, particularly because this was a mistake coming from inside the company, as opposed to a malicious hack. But then again, will it really make much difference? When Sky Atlantic aired a promo ahead of time that seemed like they probably weren’t supposed to, it didn’t leave a dent. Even when HBO suffered its massive hack and subsequent unrelated leaks, ratings for the powerhouse show only went up. So, who knows, maybe the buzz around the Spanish airing will get even more people to tune in for the episode.