Sky TV intended to show the anticipated episode on its Soho channel at 1pm as it went to air in the United States but because of technical difficulties the show did not start on time.
A press release said the network was "working as hard as we can" to fix the problem. "Our suppliers are experiencing technical difficulties getting the live Game of Thrones feed to us."
The episode eventually made it to air at 3.35pm. It was screened again, as planned, at 8.30pm. Angry viewers took to Twitter.
"Getting trolled by Soho!" wrote Roman Nicholas.
Sky chief executive John Fellet said: "It is incredibly disappointing for all of us that this has happened today, however we have worked with our suppliers to ensure that we were able to get the full episode to air as soon as we could this afternoon."
Meanwhile, fans overseas who did not want to wait and legally watch the start of Thrones' fifth season leaked the first four episodes online, apparently from review copies given to the press.
By the NZ Herald
