HBO's stand-alone streaming service should hit before Game of Thrones season five

HBO plans to launch its stand-alone streaming service, which won't require cable to watch, in time for the April season five premiere of Game of Thrones, according to a leaked memo obtained by Fortune.

The memo details HBO's decision to kill its internal efforts at creating the service and shifting to a third-party company for the technology. In the memo, HBO's Mark Thomas and Drew Angeloff note the importance of getting the solution up and running in time for April, the month Game of Thrones premieres.

The memo also discusses how the company will refocus its internal efforts on making sure HBO GO, the app used by HBO subscribers to watch the channel on a variety of devices including smartphones, tablets and consoles, can handle the traffic of all of those Game of Thrones fans when the season kicks off.