 HBO said its marketing plan for the series was , " its largest , most aggressive push for a new series " . The channel broadcast the first three episodes seven days a week at various times during the day . Non @-@ subscribers could preview the first two episodes during the first week of September 2005 . HBO implemented an outdoor marketing campaign in major cities and produced movie @-@ style trailers which preceded a number of films in cinemas . Entertainment Weekly , Vanity Fair , Time , and <unk> published full @-@ size articles about the series . The History Channel broadcast five nights of documentaries featuring the Roman Empire , which were hosted by Stevenson , McKidd , and Varma , a collaboration which was the first of its kind between the two networks . 
