Foxtel Issues Apology To 'Game Of Thrones' Fans Following Service Crash

UPDATE 3.20pm

Foxtel has today issued a new statement, revealing that the number of Australians subscribing to its online service increase by 40% in the 48 hours leading up to the Game Of Thrones premiere.

The statement reads that Foxtel's Identify Management System, which verifies customers’ entitlement to view content, usually handles around 5,000 processes a day but was hit with 70,000 transactions in just a few hours.

"Unfortunately, due to this massive surge in demand, a significant number of customers experienced difficulty logging in to foxtel now and the Foxtel App," a media release reads.

"The system was unable to verify some customers’ entitlements. We are unable to say exactly how many customers were affected because the system is unable to separately identify customers who have a problem logging in but later successfully manage to do so.

"We had anticipated heavy usage for last night’s premiere; however, the traffic that eventuated far exceeded expectations. Foxtel’s engineers are examining what steps can be taken to mitigate any recurrence.

"Given that the problems were driven by the volumes of people who sought to sign up on the day of broadcast Foxtel advises others who wish to sign up before next week’s episode to do so a few days in advance."

Foxtel has issued an apology to its users after the online service experienced crashes yesterday for the season seven premiere of Game Of Thrones.

As the Australian Financial Review reports, Foxtel spokesman Bruce Meagher said the technical glitches came about due to the high number of fans signing up for the service to watch the new season's first episode.

"It's most unfortunate and we apologise to those affected," Meagher said in a statement.

"We assure anyone impacted that they will be able to watch the first episode of Season 7 either On Demand or via one of our encore screenings throughout the week."

read more: Here's What Everyone Is Saying About Ed Sheeran's Cameo On 'Game Of Thrones'

As the critically-acclaimed show has been the target of illegal downloads, Foxtel screened the new episode yesterday at 11am AEST (the same time as its US release), however it clearly did not run so smoothly for many Australian fans.

Dear @HBO - this is why Australia leads the world in illegal downloads of #GameOfThrones. You licensed to the wrong company @Foxtel

— Julie Bright (@JulieMBright) July 17, 2017

Foxtel: you guys, don't just download Game of Thrones, you should pay for it

Fans: *buy Foxtel subscription*

Foxtel: ...ok guys bad news

— Josh Butler (@JoshButler) July 17, 2017

Live footage of me trying to use Foxtel Go to legally watch Game of Thrones and it's down pic.twitter.com/fVpZDR5MJZ

— Sheree Joseph (@tinyfleu) July 17, 2017

Foxtel: "We are the only legal way to watch Game of Thrones in Australia!"
Australia: "Ugh. Fine. Can we watch it please?"
Foxtel: "No."

— John Nickerson (@IAmAlsoJohn) July 17, 2017

I'd like to thank FOXTEL for buying up,the Game of Thrones rights into their expensive plans and fucking the country over in the process.

— OIS (@OisEucalypt) July 17, 2017