As far as I can tell, the reasons are that there are RIAA/MPAA-like cartels in most countries, which control the local distribution rights. Anyone wanting to se

As far as I can tell, the reasons are that there are RIAA/MPAA-like cartels in most countries, which control the local distribution rights. Anyone wanting to sell music needs to negotiate deals with each of these individual copyright fiefdoms in order to be able to do business in the respective country. The legal costs are similar for each country, the expected returns vary wildly with affluence and size of the country. Apple has very, very deep pockets and a track record of making money hand over fist, and they've got quite far with music, but movies and TV series are only available in a few countries near the top of the list in terms of GDP. You can infer from that how hard it must be for anyone else. I assume they make it so difficult because they're terrified of upsetting their existing distribution channels. There's no other way I can explain why a DVD is cheaper than the same movie on iTunes, and why CDs on Amazon are still often cheaper than their MP3 counterparts on the same site.