The season 3 premiere of Game of Thrones broke the record for most simultaneous peers sharing a file with over 160,000, easily topping the previous "winner:"  a season premiere of Heroes, with over 144,000 peers, according to TorrentFreak.  Over a million people had illegally downloaded the show in the first 24 hours after it was broadcast, according to the report. 

This expands Game of Thrones' position as the most pirated TV show, established last season (see "'Game of Thrones' Is Most Pirated TV Show").  The cost of an HBO subscription, the number of people that are no longer subscribing to cable TV, and delays in non-U.S. markets are all reasons for the high piracy rate. 

The premiere of Season 3 was the most-viewed episode of the series to date (see "'Dead,' 'Thrones' Set Records").

At least one HBO exec expressed a low level of concern about the piracy levels of the show in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly.  Programming president Micahel Lombardo told EW that the show is the network’s top money-maker (by season) from international and DVD sales.  And he was sanguine about the piracy.  "I probably shouldn’t be saying this, but it is a compliment of sorts," he said.  "The demand is there.  And it certainly didn’t negatively impact the DVD sales."