Fans of HBO's True Detective that also tried to stream the season premiere of "Game of Thrones on HBO Go Sunday night may have felt some déjà vu when the company's online service failed again.

Error messages greeted subscribers when they attempted to stream the episode, which had been a highly anticipated event that was also heavily promoted by HBO. The company's Twitter feed issued a series of apologies.

The incident was the second major HBO Go outage in the past month. The last episode of True Detective also caused performance issues on March 9. HBO said overwhelming demand caused both failures.

HBO declined comment on the Game of Thrones issues beyond a statement from a spokesperson: "HBO Go did experience issues due to overwhelming demand around the premiere of Game of Thrones. The service was fully restored on all platforms by midnight ET."

The inability for the company to stream the show regardless of demand shocked Dan Rayburn, a media analyst at research firm Frost & Sullivan who specializes in streaming media

"They have no excuse why this should happen again," Rayburn said . "There is no reason HBO GO should not be operating properly."

"Their competitors are doing this flawlessly," he added.

Following the problems with the True Detective finale, HBO's CEO Jeff Bewkessaid last month that the company would be investing in its digital product.

"We've got a lot of demand," said Bewkes. "We want to make HBO Go stronger."

Perhaps it is too much to think that the problems could be solved in a month's time, but other companies have shown the ability to stream to millions of people simultaneously.

Netflix is generally regarded as having particularly high quality on-demand content, while NBC Sports streams the English Premiere League soccer and the Olympics.

While @HBOGO struggles, @Netflix is crystal clear - my speedtest & screenshots of each #GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/H7UWcR1Nhb

— Rich Greenfield (@RichBTIG) April 7, 2014

Twitch, the video streaming platform that has become popular among gamers, streamed a live event to 8.5 million people simultaneously. Rayburn believes HBO did not top that number last night. HBO is not entirely alone — ABC had issues with its streaming coverage of the Oscars.

HBO's struggles have undermined an otherwise successful run for the subscription media company, which has produced a series of hits. Its parent company, Time Warner, recently divulged that HBO brought in $4.9 billion in 2013, 6.8% of the company's overall income.

Game of Thrones has been a feather in HBO's cap, garnering critical acclaim and a strong following. Those without HBO subscriptions have also proven to be fans; it was the most pirated show in 2012 and 2013.

Sunday night's season 4 premiere attracted 6.6 million viewers, according to HBO. That number does not take into account the number of people who streamed the show, making it the most-watched HBO program since the finale of "The Sopranos."

For people who do not want to pay for cable but want access to the company's content, HBO Go became a flashpoint. Fans wanted to be able to pay for its digital offering, but HBO doesn't allow consumers to access its content without a cable subscription.

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