A Westeros-Sized Letdown

[Len]

Sometimes you do the right thing and are punished for it.

For those Australian “Game of Thrones” viewers who decided to pony up and purchase a Foxtel digital subscription — one of the few legal ways for Australians to watch the series on the same day it airs in the United States — the Season 7 premiere was a literal non-event, after the cable provider’s online and on-demand services crashed.

In a bashful Facebook post, Foxtel apologised to its digital customers, blaming “unprecedented demand” for its services going down.

“We are devastated that some customers experienced technical issues tonight,” Bruce Meagher, a Foxtel spokesman, said.

Last year, when the sixth season of “Game of Thrones” premiered, it was revealed that Australia was the world’s worst offender when it comes to pirating the show. According to TorrentFreak, the country accounted for 13 percent of the global torrent traffic for that episode.

Foxtel has aggressively launched several Federal Court cases to try to block piracy-streaming websites in Australia. In 2016, it successfully forced Australia’s internet service providers to block The Pirate Bay, the notorious torrent hub.

The cable provider’s disastrous night — which followed its monthslong “Game of Thrones” promotional campaign — has left fans of the series wondering what to do next.

The Game of Thrones premiere date “was known for over a year,” one Facebook user commented, in response to Foxtel’s post. “What is ‘unprecedented’ about the most watched show in the world premiering after a year’s gap?”

“Get ready for more ‘unprecedented demand’ every Monday for the next 7-8 weeks,” the man continued.