5 ms·

Unfortunately, ending geoblocking also means ending regional pricing :/

by skoczymroczny 10y ago

robert_foss 10y ago
Which to me is a good thing.
- icebraining 10y ago
  How so? Sounds irrelevant for rich countries and terrible for poorer ones.
  - CaptSpify 10y ago
    Your assuming pricing will be based on the rich-country market. I think that will be true at first, but people in poorer countries now have the option to pay if they value the content/platform. They can also continue to pirate until companies pull their head out of their asses. I personally think it's a good thing, because it simplifies and moves it to a global-economy model. You are probably right that poorer countries will suffer in the short term.
    - icebraining 10y ago
      Frankly, I just don't see why would they ever charge a lower price. If they can get 25€/head from a population of 80M Germans, why lose more than half of that to get the 10M Portuguese? A global economy sounds good, but the problem is that media content is not like most products in the sense that there's no real competition; each studio has a monopoly on its films. Coupled with high wage disparities inside the EU (e.g. minimum wage in Germany: 1470€, Bulgaria: 184€), it simply doesn't work like a regular market.
      - CaptSpify 10y ago
        Because people will eventually start to get it for the lower price. The global economy isn't some far off concept, it's already here, we just haven't adjusted our economic model to fit with that fact yet. Digital goods aren't like physical goods where you need to charge more because of local pricing, we've just arbitrarily made it that way. Eventually it will even out.
lagadu 10y ago
Why? They can still charge different amounts based on the country of the card that's making a purchase. Spotify is an example of this.
- tankenmate 10y ago
  Sure, but it also means that people can use a card from a different country to buy the much cheaper version to watch at home.
  - lagadu 10y ago
    Yes, in fact I do that myself. But a credit/debit card from a different country requires that you have or have had in the past residence there, generally speaking and once you have addresses in multiple countries there's very little that can be done to control that.
pjc50 10y ago
Well, yes. That's what "single market" means. The EU has gone to great trouble to get rid of physical customs barriers and is not going to like people erecting virtual ones instead.

Unfortunately, ending geoblocking also means ending regional pricing :/

robert_foss 10y ago

Which to me is a good thing.

icebraining 10y ago
How so? Sounds irrelevant for rich countries and terrible for poorer ones.
- CaptSpify 10y ago
  Your assuming pricing will be based on the rich-country market. I think that will be true at first, but people in poorer countries now have the option to pay if they value the content/platform. They can also continue to pirate until companies pull their head out of their asses. I personally think it's a good thing, because it simplifies and moves it to a global-economy model. You are probably right that poorer countries will suffer in the short term.
  - icebraining 10y ago
    Frankly, I just don't see why would they ever charge a lower price. If they can get 25€/head from a population of 80M Germans, why lose more than half of that to get the 10M Portuguese? A global economy sounds good, but the problem is that media content is not like most products in the sense that there's no real competition; each studio has a monopoly on its films. Coupled with high wage disparities inside the EU (e.g. minimum wage in Germany: 1470€, Bulgaria: 184€), it simply doesn't work like a regular market.
    - CaptSpify 10y ago
      Because people will eventually start to get it for the lower price. The global economy isn't some far off concept, it's already here, we just haven't adjusted our economic model to fit with that fact yet. Digital goods aren't like physical goods where you need to charge more because of local pricing, we've just arbitrarily made it that way. Eventually it will even out.

lagadu 10y ago

Why? They can still charge different amounts based on the country of the card that's making a purchase. Spotify is an example of this.

tankenmate 10y ago
Sure, but it also means that people can use a card from a different country to buy the much cheaper version to watch at home.
- lagadu 10y ago
  Yes, in fact I do that myself. But a credit/debit card from a different country requires that you have or have had in the past residence there, generally speaking and once you have addresses in multiple countries there's very little that can be done to control that.

pjc50 10y ago

Well, yes. That's what "single market" means. The EU has gone to great trouble to get rid of physical customs barriers and is not going to like people erecting virtual ones instead.