Game of Thrones fans will know that the first episode of the show’s final series aired yesterday. But if you were an AT&T (NYSE:T) customer, you were privileged to watch it before everybody else.

Of course, this was not a perk for giving your service to the company. No, rather the world’s largest telephone operating company… made a mistake. It aired the episode four hours ahead of schedule by accident.

Oops.

AT&T Airs Game of Thrones Ahead of Schedule

The season premiere was easily one of the most anticipated television shows in history. It officially aired at 9 pm EST on Sunday across the globe.

However, those with DirecTV Now access were mistakenly able to watch the show four hours early.

AT&T took over Time Warner in June of last year. In doing so, it also acquired HBO—owners of Game of Thrones.

Mistake

As stated, the official time for air was 9 pm. However, DirecTV Now customers were sent alerts at 5 pm saying that the episode was available to stream. And indeed, it was.

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AT&T took ownership of the hiccup. In an interview with CNBC, the telecommunications company said:

“Apparently our system was as excited as we were for Game of Thrones last night and gave a few DirecTV Now customers early access to the episode by mistake […] When we became aware of the error, we immediately fixed it.”

There’s a potential that this mistake was a well-planned statement by the company: our subscriptions give customers early access to the biggest show.

Of course, rumors will abound, but most likely this was just a simple system error.

In early trade, AT&T stock is in the red and selling for $31.99 USD on the NYSE. Could shares really be down off the back off this blip?

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