Broadband Demand for Game of Thrones Knocks Sky NOW TV Service Out

Customers who pay £4.99 a month for the Entertainment Pass on Sky’s broadband-based NOW TV service now have more than those annoying “Rights Restrictions” messages (here) to worry about after the live broadcast of popular TV show Game of Thrones (Season 4 : Episode 1) caused a surge in demand that disrupted connectivity.

Posts on the NOW TV Forum, which have been picked up on by Recombu, suggest that Monday’s live 9pm broadcast of the TV show caused connectivity and slow loading problems as a result of allegedly “unforeseen high demand“.

A NOW TV Community Manager said:

“We’re aware of a number of reports of NOW TV not working this [Monday evening]. You might experience slow loading times or error messages which stop you from watching content. We’re investigating this as a matter of priority … We’re sorry for any inconvenience caused and will update you as soon as possible.”

The service soon returned to normal after the live broadcast had ended and thankfully those who missed the episode can at least catch-up on the content. Hopefully next time NOW TV will be better prepared for surges of demand caused by hugely popular TV shows, which is something that should have been easy for them to foresee.

The problems experienced by NOW TV represent at least one area where Internet based TV services can sometimes run into difficulties, which is something that traditional passive terrestrial services don’t have to worry about in quite the same way. [Insert reference to the Net Neutrality debate :)].