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Something that shocked me when I left the USA a few years ago was how aggressively region locked everything is outside of the states. More than half the times

Something that shocked me when I left the USA a few years ago was how aggressively region locked everything is outside of the states. More than half the times I’ve tried to find something it’s “oh, this isn’t available in your region”. “Oh, this is available in your region but you need a credit card from this region”. “Oh, this is available in your region but your email address is tied to an account in a different region”. “Oh, this is available in your region but only in low quality”. The unholy combo of “oh, this is available in your account’s region, and it’s available in the region you’re visiting, but in this region we can only show the content to people from this region”. It’s no surprise that piracy/vpns are still widespread - streaming companies (really media producers) are blocking people from purchasing their services!!!

danpalmer 3y ago
So much media comes from the US, and the default position of US media companies seems to be to broadcast in the US first and think about their international strategy later. Show comes out, becomes a big hit in the US, everyone else thinks it looks good and wants to watch, the only place it's available is via pirating. And then TV companies are shocked at the level of piracy. What did they expect?
- throwaway290 3y ago
  Pretty sure this is in large part due to local regulators...
  - Aeolun 3y ago
    I'm pretty sure that if you make original content you can sell the license wherever you like. Certainly more than is happening now.
    - throwaway290 3y ago
      I don't think just because it is online streaming you are suddenly not subject to whatever regulations for shows and films...
      - TheHappyOddish 3y ago
        If I'm a Ugandan film company, I make a film, sell it in Uganda and then set up a streaming website that allows access to it for $1 USD without regional restrictions, which regulations do you believe I'm breaking?
        throwaway290 3y ago
        If you sell it to EU customers then I guess EU laws? If to China, Chinese?
        TheHappyOddish 3y ago
        And why would I be subject to those laws as a Ugandan, hosting a movie on a Ugandan web server?
        throwaway290 3y ago
        what you describe makes you a Ugandan engaging in business in EU, China, etc. So subject to any local laws. Things like paying EU VAT apply to you too.
        Aeolun 3y ago
        In practice nobody polices this until you are big enough to deal with it though.
        throwaway290 3y ago
        Big like Hollywood publishers. We were talking about why they don't release stuff worldwide immediately, so there you go.. because of local laws, not because they "don't care". They care about money. Btw recommending to ignore local laws and not pay tax and such seems like bad advice. If in doubt hire a lawyer
        TheHappyOddish 3y ago
Aaargh20318 3y ago
A good example is Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which is only available on Sky Showtime in my country. I actually have a subscription to Sky Showtime but I still have to get it from an alternative source as Sky Showtime in my country only has it in 1080p SDR, no 4k or HDR support at all on their service. Who the hell launches a brand new streaming service in 2022 without 4k or HDR support?
- sam_lowry_ 3y ago
  I once "downloaded" LOTR in Netflix to watch it at camping in the Lauterbrunnen valley... only to find that it was "not available in your region"
  - etrautmann 3y ago
    If this is on mobile while traveling you can go into airplane mode and it should work. Not a great solution in general but is a workaround for most streaming services.
Aeolun 3y ago
Heh, that's my experience as a tech adopter too. every single announcement is "we're launching in the US first". For whatever reason the rest of the world does not make a compelling target. Even companies from outside the US go for "US first" from time to time...
- PrimeMcFly 3y ago
  It's the biggest single language market in the western world, it makes sense in a lot of ways, a lot of the time.
  - colpabar 3y ago
    Sure, but isn't the entire world a bigger market than the US? I don't get why you'd limit the amount of people who can pay for your content by geographic area when there is nothing that would prevent you from releasing it to everyone. I'm sure it's because the producers are benefiting somehow, I just don't know how.
    - PrimeMcFly 3y ago
      > Sure, but isn't the entire world a bigger market than the US? Sure but it's made up of a lot of smaller parts. I guess there is some advantage in releasing to a population of 400 million mostly English speaking people first? At least for western companies, and/or at least they think so. > I don't get why you'd limit the amount of people who can pay for your content by geographic area when there is nothing that would prevent you from releasing it to everyone. For content at least, they normally sell the rights to other companies in those reigons. Whatever gets them the most money I guess.
Symbiote 3y ago
This is particularly annoying for people who've moved around in Europe. It is not unusual to live in Denmark but want to watch e.g. a French film with English subtitles, or a French film with German dubbing, but many streaming services only provide subtitles/dubbing in the film's original language plus the local language. For some reason the EC seems to have allowed this [1], but it seems an obvious failure to create a single market. [1] https://www.euronews.com/2015/05/17/ec-to-make-exceptions-for-tv-and-film-in-digital-single-market https://www.euronews.com/2015/05/17/ec-to-make-exceptions-fo...
- appplication 3y ago
  > anti-piracy initiatives will be a priority of the European Commission’s Digital Single Market (DSM) policy This article is unintentional satire. It’s promoting as if there were huge steps made towards making a digital single market, but they only further codified local and fragmented digital markets, for no other reason than filmmaker profit. And fighting piracy that arises as s consequence of their failure to actually create a single market is perplexingly both in scope of, and a priority for, the commission.
Aachen 3y ago
Try watching Dutch television in the USA Your bubble is watching USA content outside the USA and noticing it's made unavailable, but it's not like others don't region lock
- dns_snek 3y ago
  That doesn't detract from their point at all, it only reinforces it. I pirate all of my movies & TV because I've decided that I'm not going to play along with geo-blocking, exclusivity deals, platform fragmentation and other anti-consumer behavior. Make it convenient for me to pay for the service and I'll gladly pay for it. The fact is that consuming content illegally can be a lot more convenient than doing it legally and this speaks volumes about the pathetic state of affairs in the industry.
- vgatherps 3y ago
  I have yet to experience an issue watching media from where I reside when in the states (or when visiting Europe) than the other way around. Given, I live in Asia and haven’t spent a ton of time in Europe so maybe that explains it. You should consider that other people have different experiences before accusing them of being in a bubble
Fire-Dragon-DoL 3y ago
I'm surprised nobody is making a point of the culture loss either. Like, my children are bilingual (italian, english), we live in Canada. One of the key things about this is being able to watch tv, read books and play videogames in native language. It is really hard. A show is available in italy on Netflix, but in netflix canada is available in english and not italian. Disney+ has this problem with many of their classics! Videogames are way better,this problem usually doesn't exist. Books are the worst of all: italian companies don't sell online to non italian credit cards more often than not, if they sell at all. Buying an italian paperbook is usually challenging and of course I'd prefer paper over digital. Just a disaster.

danpalmer 3y ago

So much media comes from the US, and the default position of US media companies seems to be to broadcast in the US first and think about their international strategy later. Show comes out, becomes a big hit in the US, everyone else thinks it looks good and wants to watch, the only place it's available is via pirating. And then TV companies are shocked at the level of piracy. What did they expect?

throwaway290 3y ago
Pretty sure this is in large part due to local regulators...
- Aeolun 3y ago
  I'm pretty sure that if you make original content you can sell the license wherever you like. Certainly more than is happening now.
  - throwaway290 3y ago
    I don't think just because it is online streaming you are suddenly not subject to whatever regulations for shows and films...
    - TheHappyOddish 3y ago
      If I'm a Ugandan film company, I make a film, sell it in Uganda and then set up a streaming website that allows access to it for $1 USD without regional restrictions, which regulations do you believe I'm breaking?
      - throwaway290 3y ago
        If you sell it to EU customers then I guess EU laws? If to China, Chinese?
        TheHappyOddish 3y ago
        And why would I be subject to those laws as a Ugandan, hosting a movie on a Ugandan web server?
        throwaway290 3y ago
        what you describe makes you a Ugandan engaging in business in EU, China, etc. So subject to any local laws. Things like paying EU VAT apply to you too.
        Aeolun 3y ago
        In practice nobody polices this until you are big enough to deal with it though.
        throwaway290 3y ago
        Big like Hollywood publishers. We were talking about why they don't release stuff worldwide immediately, so there you go.. because of local laws, not because they "don't care". They care about money. Btw recommending to ignore local laws and not pay tax and such seems like bad advice. If in doubt hire a lawyer
        TheHappyOddish 3y ago

Aaargh20318 3y ago

A good example is Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which is only available on Sky Showtime in my country. I actually have a subscription to Sky Showtime but I still have to get it from an alternative source as Sky Showtime in my country only has it in 1080p SDR, no 4k or HDR support at all on their service. Who the hell launches a brand new streaming service in 2022 without 4k or HDR support?

sam_lowry_ 3y ago
I once "downloaded" LOTR in Netflix to watch it at camping in the Lauterbrunnen valley... only to find that it was "not available in your region"
- etrautmann 3y ago
  If this is on mobile while traveling you can go into airplane mode and it should work. Not a great solution in general but is a workaround for most streaming services.

Aeolun 3y ago

Heh, that's my experience as a tech adopter too. every single announcement is "we're launching in the US first". For whatever reason the rest of the world does not make a compelling target. Even companies from outside the US go for "US first" from time to time...

PrimeMcFly 3y ago
It's the biggest single language market in the western world, it makes sense in a lot of ways, a lot of the time.
- colpabar 3y ago
  Sure, but isn't the entire world a bigger market than the US? I don't get why you'd limit the amount of people who can pay for your content by geographic area when there is nothing that would prevent you from releasing it to everyone. I'm sure it's because the producers are benefiting somehow, I just don't know how.
  - PrimeMcFly 3y ago
    > Sure, but isn't the entire world a bigger market than the US? Sure but it's made up of a lot of smaller parts. I guess there is some advantage in releasing to a population of 400 million mostly English speaking people first? At least for western companies, and/or at least they think so. > I don't get why you'd limit the amount of people who can pay for your content by geographic area when there is nothing that would prevent you from releasing it to everyone. For content at least, they normally sell the rights to other companies in those reigons. Whatever gets them the most money I guess.

Symbiote 3y ago

This is particularly annoying for people who've moved around in Europe. It is not unusual to live in Denmark but want to watch e.g. a French film with English subtitles, or a French film with German dubbing, but many streaming services only provide subtitles/dubbing in the film's original language plus the local language. For some reason the EC seems to have allowed this [1], but it seems an obvious failure to create a single market. [1] https://www.euronews.com/2015/05/17/ec-to-make-exceptions-for-tv-and-film-in-digital-single-market https://www.euronews.com/2015/05/17/ec-to-make-exceptions-fo...

appplication 3y ago
> anti-piracy initiatives will be a priority of the European Commission’s Digital Single Market (DSM) policy This article is unintentional satire. It’s promoting as if there were huge steps made towards making a digital single market, but they only further codified local and fragmented digital markets, for no other reason than filmmaker profit. And fighting piracy that arises as s consequence of their failure to actually create a single market is perplexingly both in scope of, and a priority for, the commission.

Aachen 3y ago

Try watching Dutch television in the USA Your bubble is watching USA content outside the USA and noticing it's made unavailable, but it's not like others don't region lock

dns_snek 3y ago
That doesn't detract from their point at all, it only reinforces it. I pirate all of my movies & TV because I've decided that I'm not going to play along with geo-blocking, exclusivity deals, platform fragmentation and other anti-consumer behavior. Make it convenient for me to pay for the service and I'll gladly pay for it. The fact is that consuming content illegally can be a lot more convenient than doing it legally and this speaks volumes about the pathetic state of affairs in the industry.
vgatherps 3y ago
I have yet to experience an issue watching media from where I reside when in the states (or when visiting Europe) than the other way around. Given, I live in Asia and haven’t spent a ton of time in Europe so maybe that explains it. You should consider that other people have different experiences before accusing them of being in a bubble

Fire-Dragon-DoL 3y ago

I'm surprised nobody is making a point of the culture loss either. Like, my children are bilingual (italian, english), we live in Canada. One of the key things about this is being able to watch tv, read books and play videogames in native language. It is really hard. A show is available in italy on Netflix, but in netflix canada is available in english and not italian. Disney+ has this problem with many of their classics! Videogames are way better,this problem usually doesn't exist. Books are the worst of all: italian companies don't sell online to non italian credit cards more often than not, if they sell at all. Buying an italian paperbook is usually challenging and of course I'd prefer paper over digital. Just a disaster.