4 'Game of Thrones' episodes leaked as new season begins

Estimated read time: Less than a minute

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — HBO says leaked episodes of "Game of Thrones" came from within a group given approval to receive them.

The premium cable channel said it is "actively assessing" how the breach occurred, declining Monday to provide further details.

Saturday's piracy occurred the day before "Game of Thrones" returned for its fifth season.

Four of the season's 10 episodes were leaked online to torrent sites. Within an hour, there were reportedly more than 1 million downloads of episode one.

Media critics and reporters are among those who routinely received advance copies of HBO programs. The DVDs are marked with serial numbers to identify the recipients.

The leak comes on the heels of the launch of HBO Now, a stand-alone streaming service for fantasy drama "Game of Thrones" and other HBO fare.