8 ms·

The law/studio deals have to change. Netflix offers great movies and they lock it down to certain countries. For example I am big fan of Back To The Future. I c

The law/studio deals have to change. Netflix offers great movies and they lock it down to certain countries. For example I am big fan of Back To The Future. I can watch may favourite movie every month when I'm in UK but when I am in Poland then no luck. Same goes in other direction. While being in Poland I downloaded via Netflix National Lampoon Animal House to watch on plane. I watched half of it on plane then tried to watch rest in hotel and Netflix refused to play it because I was in UK. Funny thing is that when I switched to plane mode I could watch it. My question is what's the point? I as a person, am going in to agreement with Netflix that they will provide me movie. Nothing changes apart from my geographical location (I am paying the same amount of money, I am paying the same taxes, everything stays the same) and yet I can't watch the movie just because I am in different spot on the glob. I don't understand what is the profit for movie companies in narrowing down their own market.

lotsofpulp 9y ago
Netflix isn't locking it down, the company they are buying the media from is locking it down.
- gsich 9y ago
  Netflix is enforcing it. They do the actual technical action of blocking access.
  - nsxwolf 9y ago
    They are required to per the licensing deal they made with the content owner.
    - gsich 9y ago
      This always reads like an excuse. They don't have to enforce it as strictly. Content owners don't specify the exact technical details Netflix has to deploy. If the deal says "no access for users outside country x", Netflix could just ask the user from which country they are from. Then, depending on the answer either show it or not. On another note, some companies like this. Take Valve with Steam. They are definitly in a position to dictate "no region lock bullshit", yet they still make them available. Because it means more money.
      - lmkg 9y ago
        > They don't have to enforce it as strictly. Content owners don't specify the exact technical details The deal can include whatever the content owners want it to include. And the content owners want it to include strict enforcement. They can specify the specific technical details of enforcement, if they want. That's a legal contract, and one that they have a financial incentive to offer. Or they can specify an acceptable level of enforcement failures, or they can specify financial penalties for insufficient enforcement, or they can specify Netflix carries liability for infringement that it allows. Or they could leave Netflix to do as they will, but threaten to pull their content or to sue Netflix for contributory negligence or whatever if Netflix doesn't comply. The fact of the matter is, the content owners have leverage and Netflix is not (yet?) in a position where they can blow off such concerns. Netflix is trying to get into that position, by creating its own content, but right now the majority of their content is dependent on other parties finding Netflix an acceptable content partner.
      - drchickensalad 9y ago
        You're free to think that, and possibly some less important companies could get away with it. However, in reality, the content owners really aren't that dumb and incompetent. There are very punishing legal implications to breaking the contracts, especially your relationship with others. And the content owners don't just do nothing; there's quite detailed questions and requirements they give when you renew their content, and they very often discover things they want to change after. It's obviously a problematic enough relationship that netflix doesn't want to be a part of it anymore. More power to them; I wish this could be done for all industries as easily/well.
        xxs 9y ago
        >You're free to think that, and possibly some less important companies could get away with it. In the EU most people have identity documents... and enough services that provide identity verification. The said verification is mandatory in some industries like online gambling. There is no intrinsic hurdle to remove the retarded IP block. Using VPN to bypass it is just yet another step away but again, why bother with VPN when I can get it via torrent?
  - FabHK 9y ago
    As a side effect, btw, you can't watch Netflix if you habitually use a VPN (as they block proxies).
    - cat199 9y ago
      > if you habitually use a VPN depends on the VPN... if you mean 'commercial vpn service', then probably yes. if you mean 'routing it through some other machine you own', 'your access to <xyzpq network>' then probably no.. vpn != commercial vpn service
      - amaterasu 9y ago
        I was running my own Netflix VPN service (admittedly on a low cost VPS), and was blocked within a day when Netflix introduced their new policy.
        eecc 9y ago
        Try from a residential IP block; off a simple raspberry at home for example.
        kahnpro 9y ago
        Yeah, they are blocking most VPS providers. You'll need an obscure VPS host or a residential IP
  - JustSomeNobody 9y ago
    Surely because they have to if they want to continue to have access to content.
  - Double_a_92 9y ago
    Yeah but what would you expect Netflix to do? Just illegally stream it anyway? They'd get in trouble...
icebraining 9y ago
I don't understand what is the profit for movie companies in narrowing down their own market. The movie company sold the rights to show that movie in the UK to some other company instead of Netflix, probably for more money than Netflix offered them. Also, you're paying a fixed monthly fee, and unless you're part of the small minority that travels a lot, you're not likely to drop Netflix over not being able to watch certain movies in foreign countries, hence they didn't lose anything.
- caf 9y ago
  While only a small minority might travel (across country borders) a lot in the US, I imagine in Europe it's a much higher proportion of the population that regularly travels to other countries.
  - Symbiote 9y ago
    There are regions where people commute daily over the border, and even more where people commute weekly. e.g. I have a colleague who lives in Malmö (Sweden) and commutes daily to Copenhagen (Denmark). Lots of people travel into Luxembourg every day. When I lived in the UK, the director's family lived on a pretty island in Spain, and he went every Friday for the weekend. Not exactly good for his CO₂ emissions, but people do this kind of thing.
    - TeMPOraL 9y ago
      Yay, cheap airlines. When I was interning at Rutherford Appleton Laboratories in the UK, I met a cleaner who was flying back to Poland for the weekend every other week, to attend university ("extramural" is the proper term, I think?). I was pretty shocked that one can afford this on a salary of a cleaner in a government facility.
  - 8draco8 9y ago
    Europe is small in comparison to US and in EU borders virtually do not exists exactly like between states in US. You can go and work in any country in EU if you are EU citizen without any permissions or special paper. Plus there is a lot of countries like Czech, Slovakia, Slovenia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg and couple more which are so small/have so good highway system that from any place in that country you can cross the border in under 2 hours which is basically like driving from SF to Sacramento or from NYC to Philadelphia. The point is that a lot of people travels cross country in Europe, very often it's they daily commute.
Symbiote 9y ago
The Digital Single Market should improve the situation in the European Union. Start from https://ec.europa.eu/growth/single-market/digital_en https://ec.europa.eu/growth/single-market/digital_en – I've read something about them solving (or aiming to solve) exactly the situation you describe.
airstrike 9y ago
Do you really watch the same movie every month?
- Broken_Hippo 9y ago
  That doesn't have anything to do with it. Many folks don't - but their children are likely to do so. People watch the same shows every month, depending on their viewing habits. People research movies and shows at different times than they watch them, only to find out they can't actually watch it when they get to the other country. And it sucks.
- 8draco8 9y ago
  Movies no but I often watch comedy series like a "re run". Just turn it on when I am doing stuff in the kitchen to have Friends running in the background so I don't have to pay full attention to it. This is also not the full story. Recently I was watching one TV series on Netflix and when I was in the middle of the season Netlfilx informed me that by the end of January they will remove it because of copyright deal (they could stream it only for certain period of time in Poland). Of course that series is still available in UK.
wilsonfiifi 9y ago
You can use playon cloud [0] which is an online dvr service for sites like Netflix, Hulu, etc. They appear to be legal which is good. [0] https://www.playon.tv/cloud
- kale 9y ago
  PlayOn desktop works pretty well too. That plus Plex is way more convenient when travelling internationally and in places with poor network access.

lotsofpulp 9y ago

Netflix isn't locking it down, the company they are buying the media from is locking it down.

gsich 9y ago
Netflix is enforcing it. They do the actual technical action of blocking access.
- nsxwolf 9y ago
  They are required to per the licensing deal they made with the content owner.
  - gsich 9y ago
    This always reads like an excuse. They don't have to enforce it as strictly. Content owners don't specify the exact technical details Netflix has to deploy. If the deal says "no access for users outside country x", Netflix could just ask the user from which country they are from. Then, depending on the answer either show it or not. On another note, some companies like this. Take Valve with Steam. They are definitly in a position to dictate "no region lock bullshit", yet they still make them available. Because it means more money.
    - lmkg 9y ago
      > They don't have to enforce it as strictly. Content owners don't specify the exact technical details The deal can include whatever the content owners want it to include. And the content owners want it to include strict enforcement. They can specify the specific technical details of enforcement, if they want. That's a legal contract, and one that they have a financial incentive to offer. Or they can specify an acceptable level of enforcement failures, or they can specify financial penalties for insufficient enforcement, or they can specify Netflix carries liability for infringement that it allows. Or they could leave Netflix to do as they will, but threaten to pull their content or to sue Netflix for contributory negligence or whatever if Netflix doesn't comply. The fact of the matter is, the content owners have leverage and Netflix is not (yet?) in a position where they can blow off such concerns. Netflix is trying to get into that position, by creating its own content, but right now the majority of their content is dependent on other parties finding Netflix an acceptable content partner.
    - drchickensalad 9y ago
      You're free to think that, and possibly some less important companies could get away with it. However, in reality, the content owners really aren't that dumb and incompetent. There are very punishing legal implications to breaking the contracts, especially your relationship with others. And the content owners don't just do nothing; there's quite detailed questions and requirements they give when you renew their content, and they very often discover things they want to change after. It's obviously a problematic enough relationship that netflix doesn't want to be a part of it anymore. More power to them; I wish this could be done for all industries as easily/well.
      - xxs 9y ago
        >You're free to think that, and possibly some less important companies could get away with it. In the EU most people have identity documents... and enough services that provide identity verification. The said verification is mandatory in some industries like online gambling. There is no intrinsic hurdle to remove the retarded IP block. Using VPN to bypass it is just yet another step away but again, why bother with VPN when I can get it via torrent?
- FabHK 9y ago
  As a side effect, btw, you can't watch Netflix if you habitually use a VPN (as they block proxies).
  - cat199 9y ago
    > if you habitually use a VPN depends on the VPN... if you mean 'commercial vpn service', then probably yes. if you mean 'routing it through some other machine you own', 'your access to <xyzpq network>' then probably no.. vpn != commercial vpn service
    - amaterasu 9y ago
      I was running my own Netflix VPN service (admittedly on a low cost VPS), and was blocked within a day when Netflix introduced their new policy.
      - eecc 9y ago
        Try from a residential IP block; off a simple raspberry at home for example.
      - kahnpro 9y ago
        Yeah, they are blocking most VPS providers. You'll need an obscure VPS host or a residential IP
- JustSomeNobody 9y ago
  Surely because they have to if they want to continue to have access to content.
- Double_a_92 9y ago
  Yeah but what would you expect Netflix to do? Just illegally stream it anyway? They'd get in trouble...

icebraining 9y ago

I don't understand what is the profit for movie companies in narrowing down their own market. The movie company sold the rights to show that movie in the UK to some other company instead of Netflix, probably for more money than Netflix offered them. Also, you're paying a fixed monthly fee, and unless you're part of the small minority that travels a lot, you're not likely to drop Netflix over not being able to watch certain movies in foreign countries, hence they didn't lose anything.

caf 9y ago
While only a small minority might travel (across country borders) a lot in the US, I imagine in Europe it's a much higher proportion of the population that regularly travels to other countries.
- Symbiote 9y ago
  There are regions where people commute daily over the border, and even more where people commute weekly. e.g. I have a colleague who lives in Malmö (Sweden) and commutes daily to Copenhagen (Denmark). Lots of people travel into Luxembourg every day. When I lived in the UK, the director's family lived on a pretty island in Spain, and he went every Friday for the weekend. Not exactly good for his CO₂ emissions, but people do this kind of thing.
  - TeMPOraL 9y ago
    Yay, cheap airlines. When I was interning at Rutherford Appleton Laboratories in the UK, I met a cleaner who was flying back to Poland for the weekend every other week, to attend university ("extramural" is the proper term, I think?). I was pretty shocked that one can afford this on a salary of a cleaner in a government facility.
- 8draco8 9y ago
  Europe is small in comparison to US and in EU borders virtually do not exists exactly like between states in US. You can go and work in any country in EU if you are EU citizen without any permissions or special paper. Plus there is a lot of countries like Czech, Slovakia, Slovenia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg and couple more which are so small/have so good highway system that from any place in that country you can cross the border in under 2 hours which is basically like driving from SF to Sacramento or from NYC to Philadelphia. The point is that a lot of people travels cross country in Europe, very often it's they daily commute.

Symbiote 9y ago

The Digital Single Market should improve the situation in the European Union. Start from https://ec.europa.eu/growth/single-market/digital_en https://ec.europa.eu/growth/single-market/digital_en – I've read something about them solving (or aiming to solve) exactly the situation you describe.

airstrike 9y ago

Do you really watch the same movie every month?

Broken_Hippo 9y ago
That doesn't have anything to do with it. Many folks don't - but their children are likely to do so. People watch the same shows every month, depending on their viewing habits. People research movies and shows at different times than they watch them, only to find out they can't actually watch it when they get to the other country. And it sucks.
8draco8 9y ago
Movies no but I often watch comedy series like a "re run". Just turn it on when I am doing stuff in the kitchen to have Friends running in the background so I don't have to pay full attention to it. This is also not the full story. Recently I was watching one TV series on Netflix and when I was in the middle of the season Netlfilx informed me that by the end of January they will remove it because of copyright deal (they could stream it only for certain period of time in Poland). Of course that series is still available in UK.

wilsonfiifi 9y ago

You can use playon cloud [0] which is an online dvr service for sites like Netflix, Hulu, etc. They appear to be legal which is good. [0] https://www.playon.tv/cloud

kale 9y ago
PlayOn desktop works pretty well too. That plus Plex is way more convenient when travelling internationally and in places with poor network access.