House of Cards leak: marketing ploy or gaffe? Either way Netflix wins

The third season of Netflix's “House of Cards” was prematurely released online Wednesday — setting off a brief social-media frenzy among hard-core fans of the fictional Washington drama, followed by disappointment. For about 30 minutes, the new

Image Credit: Nathaniel Bell/Netflix Frank Underwood continued his ascent to power on season two of House of Cards, and now Netflix has announced when viewers can again watch the most powerful man in America exert 

They don't need everyone to watch House of Cards on the 27th so they can sell advertising. They don't need a giant premiere to make it look like a hit or huge ratings to make more money. In fact, they don't release ratings data at all. That means

“House of Cards” Season 3 magically appeared on Netflix on Wednesday afternoon. It was not scheduled to debut until Feb. 27. Naturally, Twitter panicked. GO HOME: #HouseOfCards season 3 is on Netflix right now pic.twitter.com/AtxHkjzKlC.

The first ten episodes of “House of Cards” season 3 briefly leaked onto Netflix Wednesday afternoon. Netflix pulled the episodes from the streaming site pretty quick, but not before we could read through the episode descriptions for the first 10 episodes.