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Friday, September 08, 2006
Internet, but not international
Amazon revealed a new service called Amazon Unbox, where you can download movies and TV shows for a cost, and watch them on a PC. Hey! I could get the complete CSI season 6 for download for less than $40! Only I can't. The offer is only for US citizens. Which doesn't really surprise me, I'm not allowed to use Apple's iTunes US either. Apple later opened European iTunes sites with a smaller selection. If Amazon Unbox is a success, we'll probably see Amazon Unbox UK, France, and Germany in the future. Which won't help me much, because they will mainly have British, French, and German TV shows, and not the US ones I want to see.
If you send TV over antenna or cable, you automatically stop at the borders. At the borders regulations change, and if the country on the other side speaks a different language, your possible market share is limited anyway. And building a network of antenna or cables is expensive. What I don't understand is why the TV still stops at the border when it is sent over the internet. There is not only a long tail of content which the internet can distribute cost efficiently. There is also a long tail of customers. Not every European would want to watch US TV, but some would, and as distribution to Europe by internet doesn't cost more than distribution to the US by internet, it is kind of foolish to exclude these potential customers. And the same is true for many other regions of the world where English is spoken at least as a second language. When will legally downloadable content on the internet become international?
- posted by Tobold @ 3:02 PM Permanent Link
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It will happen someday. But the strings are all pulled by the studios right now. The RIAA, MIAA, and even manufacturers believe they have an interest in dividing up the market, since they've always done things this way. The difference is in the past it was technologically the easiest way to do it, but now it's become a hinderance to early adopters. As soon as it spreads beyond the early adopters, and gets between regular customers' money and the studio's pockets, they will suddenly all stop and have global releases.
Well barring legal restrictions, like language laws in France and Canada, etc. And if there is an EU law that says books and software MUST be translated, that will slow things down too. You cant discout the well-intentioned but ridiculous laws so many countries have that slow down the ability of business to provide products to customers.
Well barring legal restrictions, like language laws in France and Canada, etc. And if there is an EU law that says books and software MUST be translated, that will slow things down too. You cant discout the well-intentioned but ridiculous laws so many countries have that slow down the ability of business to provide products to customers.
# posted by 
: 8/9/06 15:47
: 8/9/06 15:47
WoW Tobold you Europeans really get the shaft. You had to Sneak your way into WOW beta by signing up before they checked by ISP address, then you had to pay an arm and a leg for shipping costs on just about every product you ordered from the States and now this. I agree with you completely when you say you don't understand why Europe seems to be considered a "third world" nation since Japan and Korea are granted access to new products long before Europe. When will the world learn that to market effectively, only the countries without electricity should be postponed during initial launch.
And they still wonder why people torrent their stuff. Well maybe cause there is no effortless legal access to their content.
It was a great weak for europeans: PS3 gets delayed, Vista gets delayed and another legal download service got released, wich can not be used by us.
Full global content distribution gets real, when you completely take out the classic model of content creation, when you cut out the whole fat of the ancient distribution process. Fox, Sony and the like only offer an quality of distribution and bind artists onto them with it. When iTunes becomes a music labels on its own, it will release anything at the same moment to everyone.
It was a great weak for europeans: PS3 gets delayed, Vista gets delayed and another legal download service got released, wich can not be used by us.
Full global content distribution gets real, when you completely take out the classic model of content creation, when you cut out the whole fat of the ancient distribution process. Fox, Sony and the like only offer an quality of distribution and bind artists onto them with it. When iTunes becomes a music labels on its own, it will release anything at the same moment to everyone.
# posted by : 8/9/06 17:02
: 8/9/06 17:02
You complain about being a euro far too much. Move if it's such an ordeal for you.
# posted by : 8/9/06 18:19
: 8/9/06 18:19
Almost all the US shows you are looking for (CSI, Las Vegas, Lost and so on) are staple fodder in the UK and Ireland. Unfortunately we are typically about 6 months behind the US - watching Christmas specials in the Summer and so on. If a Europe wide service comes out they will almost certainly carry these shows but it may be that they bring out localised versions that only carry German or French language shows and so on.
# posted by : 9/9/06 13:30
: 9/9/06 13:30
I was really disappointed to see that the only episodes available are those already available on DVD. This is a mistake with 24 and Prison Break seemingly launching a new era of can't-miss-it continuity in TV.
So those who need to catch up still have to go the P2P route.
I'd warn that this only promotes piracy, but television is something special. First, they're the only entertainment industry that hasn't behaved so atrociously as to deserve being pirated. Second, they're the only industry savvy & modern enough that they *might* realize they benefit from it.
As other forms of entertainment would, had their stewards not spent the last ten years suing children, threatening foreign countries, and raiding college dorms.
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So those who need to catch up still have to go the P2P route.
I'd warn that this only promotes piracy, but television is something special. First, they're the only entertainment industry that hasn't behaved so atrociously as to deserve being pirated. Second, they're the only industry savvy & modern enough that they *might* realize they benefit from it.
As other forms of entertainment would, had their stewards not spent the last ten years suing children, threatening foreign countries, and raiding college dorms.
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