TEST OF DEFENCES

be higher for the first episode of the show’s seventh ( and almost final) season.

Put plainly, there’s no other show on the planet with as much hype. It’s no surprise that it’s consistently the most illegally downloaded show in Australia.

Illegal downloads have been a big problem in the past for the folks at Foxtel. As the only legitimate way to watch the show in Oz ( other than waiting for DVDs to come out), they were losing a motza from people finding alternative ways to access it. Foxtel Now was supposed to be the answer. To say there was a lot riding on it is an understatement. But as we know by now, things didn’t quite pan out the way they hoped. Demand was so high that the system had a meltdown and the fans followed suit.

It’s no secret that in the television streaming game, Netflix is the one to beat. It’s built a sterling reputation among viewers with the quality and range of its content, user- friendly system, and relatively low monthly subscription cost. To date, no Australian competitor has even come close to matching it.

The most disappointing thing about the problems with the Game of Thrones premiere is that Foxtel Now actually got so much right. I was pretty critical of its predecessor, Foxtel Play. Its interface was clunky as hell, and made the simple act of just finding the right episode of a show a nightmare.

The same could be said for the Foxtel’s joint effort with Seven — the ill- fated Presto ( although it had an excellent range of content, and a price tag that was more in line with Netflix and Stan’s).

But Foxtel Now doesn’t have those same issues. It’s the closest to Netflix’s easy navigation as anyone’s come so far, and the range of content I saw when I had a browse