HBO’s long-awaited third season premiere of Game of Thrones garnered 6.7 million views from subscribers when it aired on March 31, 2013. With more than 163,000 simultaneous users sharing the episode “Valar Dohaeris,” the show also broke the record for simultaneous illegal downloads through BitTorrent and other torrent sites, surpassing the third season premiere of Heroes in 2008, which had 144,663 simultaneous downloads.

Over one million downloaders have already “paid the iron price” for illegally accessing HBO’s exclusive subscriber content. According to a report by TorrentFreak, a blog that covers file sharing trends, the United States has the highest piracy levels, followed closely by the UK and Australia. But why is Game of Thrones such a popular target for illegal downloading? The answer is due to the international delay in the airing of episodes. HBO original series are only available to subscribers through HBO’s cable channel or through its digital platform, HBO GO. Viewers outside the US often have to wait a week or more for new episodes to reach their markets.

The high demand for the season 3 premiere is no surprise, as Game of Thrones was the most pirated show of 2012. TorrentFreak estimates that 4.3 million people downloaded the season 2 finale last year, costing HBO about $170 million in revenues.

Users who illegally downloaded the premiere used BitTorrent, a free software system that lets users swap large media files and illegally trade copyrighted content, such as movies, TV shows, and music. While Hollywood is worried about the pervasiveness of illegal downloads, HBO executives are less concerned. HBO programming president Michael Lombardo sees the piracy of Game of Thrones as a sign of success rather than a problem: “I probably shouldn’t be saying this, but it is a compliment of sorts…[Piracy is] something that comes along with having a wildly successful show on a subscription network…[It] certainly didn’t negatively impact DVD sales.” David Petrarca, a director of Game of Thrones, agrees. According to him, unauthorized downloads do not matter because the show thrives on “cultural buzz,” and benefits from the social commentary that it generates. This in turn leads people to eventually purchase HBO subscriptions.

The impact of piracy has an interesting effect on the way subscriber content is offered to the public. Richard Plepler, the CEO of HBO, foresees a future where HBO GO is bundled with internet service, the same way HBO is bundled with cable. Reuters reported that customers could pay an extra $10-15 a month on top of their Internet rates for access. However, it is difficult to imagine converting downloaders who have already experienced easy and free (albeit illegal) access through BitTorrent, into paying subscribers. For now, it seems, HBO will be sticking to its subscriber revenue strategy.