Just after we returned from our vacation and were buried under work to catch up on, there was a very interesting announcement picked up by the media and fellow fan sites: UK digital movice service Blinkbox announced that they had negotiated the right to start streaming the second easons of Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones right now, well ahead of the DVD and Bluray releases for those two award-winning original series. For those who didn’t have Sky Atlantic and were never able to watch the series, or would love to watch the episodes again, this seems like a terrific opportunity.
The press release is below… but before we get to that, a contest: in partnership with blinkbox, we’re offering 10 movie vouchers! This one’s going to be a Twitter contest, and the rules are simple: follow westerosorg and tweet the hashtag #GOTBlink. We’ll pick ten random winners. This is UK ONLY, so don’t use the hashtag if you’re not entering the draw! Winners will be contacted at the end of the week.
HBO® signs deal with blinkbox
HBO brings Game of Thrones SM season 2, Boardwalk Empire SM season 2 and more to blinkbox
August 13th 2012: HBO Home Entertainment UK has today announced plans to make its innovative portfolio of TV shows available to watch instantly through a new agreement with digital movie service blinkbox.
For the first time, consumers in the UK can buy the second seasons of Emmy® and Golden Globe® winning epic Game of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire via blinkbox a digital movie service and ahead of their DVD and Blu ray release. Fans of HBO’s landmark programming will be able to own individual episodes or entire seasons, and all without subscription.
Already known as the place to watch the latest releases without subscription, from 13th August blinkbox will offer a broad range of premium HBO series including all four seasons of smash hit supernatural drama True Blood SM as well as the critically acclaimed blockbuster mini-series Band of Brothers SM and The Pacific SM.
Colin Smith, Director, International Digital Distribution for HBO said: “We are delighted to partner with blinkbox and to offer a wide variety of award-winning premium content to fans in the UK with a number of titles available on an EST basis for the very first time. I’m particularly excited that Game of Thrones Season 2 will be available to own for all those fans out there that haven’t had the opportunity to watch it yet.”
“HBO delivers innovative, critically acclaimed programming and it is part of our ongoing strategy to make this content available to viewers in a variety of formats so they can immerse themselves in their favourite shows whenever, wherever. Fans will now be able to own their favourite series in digital format.”
blinkbox CEO Michael Comish added: “This partnership with HBO is huge news for blinkbox and our customers. Anyone wanting to watch the second seasons of Game of Thrones or Boardwalk Empire will have to wait to watch them on DVD – we’ve got them right now on blinkbox.”
“This just adds to all that makes blinkbox great: the latest movie releases available without subscription, and now acclaimed TV series before they are available anywhere else in the UK.”
Fans of HBO’s first-class content will be able to purchase the latest hit shows (Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire), landmark mini-series events (The Pacific, Band of Brothers), familiar favourites (Sex and the City SM, The Wire SM, The Sopranos SM) or previously undiscovered gems (Big Love SM, Bored to Death SM).
As with all blinkbox titles, these HBO shows can be viewed on PC, Mac, SMART devices (TV, Blu-Ray players, Set Top boxes), iPad, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. So now there’s always something good to watch, anywhere, anytime from HBO via blinkbox.