Starz Pledges “Legal Action” Against ‘Power’ Leaker

As HBO deals with the hacking of its corporate correspondence and Game of Thrones scripts and leaks of the blockbuster, fellow premium cabler Starz is hitting back today against the leak of several upcoming episodes of Power.

Heading into the last part of the fourth season of the Courtney Kemp created series, the Chris Albrecht run outlet is going to the legal mattresses for its biggest show.

“The final three episodes of Power’s fourth season were leaked online due to a breach of the press screening room,” said Starz in a statement Wednesday. “This seems to be a case of password sharing that resulted in homemade videos of the episodes which were taped off a TV screen and posted online,” the home of Power, Outlander and American Gods adds. “Starz has begun forensic investigations and will take legal action against the responsible parties.”

That action may not be so hard to take against said responsive parties, as the leaker filmed the episodes off a phone and post them on his personal social media with commentary – so not exactly a criminal mastermind of Ghost or Kanan proportions at work here. By the way, even with the big HBO hack and the leak out of an Indian distributor of the August 6 episode of GoT last week, the David Benioff and D.B. Weiss EP’d show based on George R.R. Martin’s books actually went up to a series viewership high.

The Omari Hardwick, Lela Loren, Joseph Sikora, Naturi Naughton and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson starring Power started its current season strong on June 25 with steady linear viewing and big numbers via Starz’s much promoted app. Already renewed for a Season 5 when it got the Season 4 pick-up in July 2016, the show’s fourth season wraps up on September 3.