Four hours ahead of the "Game of Thrones" final season's official start, the first episode accidentally became available to some DIRECTV viewers. The company fixed the error as soon as it knew about it, but fans were happy to benefit, and said as much on Twitter.

DISH Network has become one of GoChain's signing nodes, about a year after the satellite streaming company began taking payment in Bitcoin. "We are curious about new and interesting technology that may help us better deliver for our customers," said Atilla Tinic, the company's chief information officer.

Elon Musk is trying to raise an additional $500 million for his Space Exploration Technologies' Starlink project, a constellation of up to 11,000 satellites aimed at providing internet access. Some experts estimate that the cost could be $10 billion, and SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell has expressed some doubts about the project's financial viability.

SES added 4 million households to its subscription lists in 2018, making it the leading global satellite video distributor. Europe, where satellite is still the dominant means of receiving television, has 167 million homes subscribed to SES.

Only a fraction of US broadband homes, 8%, own a virtual-reality headset while 25% of them are aware of the technology, research firm Parks Associates reports. Slightly more than half of the VR headset owners say they use them to play video games.

A survey from PCMag found 71% of US consumers believe 5G is still just hype, while 30% of respondents were skeptical about carriers' 5G proclamations. Public safety and infrastructure topped the list of 5G uses consumers would be most eager to see, followed by internet of things applications, smart cities, health care, connected and self-driving vehicles, and AR and VR.

Federal regulators warned owners and sellers of unauthorized streaming media set-top boxes that they are subject to six-figure penalties. The Federal Communications Commission has pointed to potential interference with neighboring Wi-Fi networks due to faulty Wi-Fi chips in the boxes.