GoT will have 7 seasons!

Several sites announced that the producers announced there will be 7 seasons. "Seven gods, seven kingdoms, seven seasons. It feels right to us." Nice to see one of my favorite shows go on for a while instead of ending prematurely like Rome. Can't wait to watch them all, and to add them to my Blu ray collection!

My only problem with this is that Martin's not done writing the books yet, so how can they complete the series? Will they end the TV show with the conclusion of book five or possibly six, if it's published by then?

Martin is working on the show, he wrote several episodes... He already said if/when the series catches up, he has an outline for the end of the show.

It's a pretty certain thing now that the show will end before the books do. I find it impossible to believe that Martin didn't see this coming and plan ahead for it when the show first launched. Hopefully the show ends on some kind of ambiguous note and the books still need to be read to see what really happens.

I read somewhere (I don't remember where) that Martin has actually told Benioff and Weiss the end "in case he dies before he can finish".

That's correct. Surely if the TV series finishes before the books it will adversely affect book sales?