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DVD Zoning Enforced In Law
hysterion writes: "A recent bill from the French government makes the headlines of the major daily paper Libération. (Translation here.) Currently, French law prohibits DVD sales of any movie during its first 9 months in theatres. While reducing this to 6 months,
the bill aims to kill a thriving import market by now including
foreign issues -- even if they are not dubbed or subtitled in
French. In effect, starting January 1, "any
importation of zone 1 DVD or VHS of movies which have obtained
a visa of exploitation in French theatres is prohibited."
Can they really hope to enforce this? Or will movies eventually
have to come out simultaneously in all parts of the world? (Irony: the Secretary of Culture who wrote this bill is also on record speaking against
software patents.)" Apparently the law will ban any Zone 1 DVD permanently if the French distributors have, or plan to, show the same movie in French theaters (and presumably release it on Zone 2 DVD some time after that).
If any comment in here deserves a (+5, Insightful) this is it.
:)
That's what I always liked about English. It's a mix of features and phrases and structures from other languages, and despite beign a nightmare for non-native speakers to figure out, it's had a great deal of success at spreading itself. Sort of like the Perl of spoken languages.
Actually, though we do have elected officials trying to make English our "official" language, that means that English IS NOT the official language at this time.
Unlike French in France, or say (to make an example in our own hemisphere) Quebec, for instance.
The biggest reason we have no official language is that there is no such thing as an ethnic "American" (not factoring in the Native American people) per se - we're generally much more of a mishmash than you see anywhere else in the world. This is partly because America was smart enough not to have an official religion (unlike most of the rest of the world) and partly because we're relatively new in the timetable of civilization and still have large numbers of immigrants assimilating into us.
The other side of this is that we do offer most of our government services in other languages (but it depends - you won't find the local Social Security office offering help in Spanish in the middle of Boston's Chinatown, for instance), and most public schools offer, at the very least, classes in English as a second language with some instruction in the student's native language. Again, this depends somewhat on just how obscure the student's language is, and if there's enough speakers of it for the school system to justify instruction - if you're the only Spanish speaker in Podunk, North Dakota you're not going to get any special help but if you're in Texas or Southern California you can live most of your life in a Spanish cocoon.
That said, English skills are essential to take advantage of this country's greatest asset: the ability to move freely in society according to merit and skill. If you only speak a different language, your life will be confined to the community of people who speak the same language as yourself and you deserve no better. I'd say the same of an English-only speaker in France, though. If you are going to make your life in a country you are a fool if you don't learn the dominant language of the nation as best as you can.
The French chauvinism towards language is pretty much unique, though. English, like many other languages, has assimilated words from other languages when they were the bast way to communicate a concept or thing. We've got words that are directly lifted from Spanish, German, French, and Latin, among others - and many more hybridized words. The average Frenchman may occasionally speak of ordering "le Big Mac", but for some reason that infuriates the French culture fanatics who see French civilization as the only proper way of life and everything else to be the mark of the "barbarians". Perhaps they're still bitter over Jerry Lewis. Or the Maginot line. Or how most grapes nowadays are grown from California root stock. Or something like that.
Whatever.
- -Josh Turiel
-- Josh Turiel
"2. Do not eat iPod Shuffle."
The European Trade law forbids any and every barrier in protection of goods or prices across the borders of the EU member states.
So, if a french consumer gets sued for buying a Zone 1 DVD from Italy, Germany or UK, he can countersue against the French State at the European Court in Strasbourg. And he will definitely WIN, because no member state can have laws that protect its industry from the other states' ones. If Zone 1 DVD are legal elsewhere in the EU, then they must be available for inter-state sale in France.
The only way the French state has to enforce this law is by having it approved by the European Parliament.
Ciao,
Roberto.
AniToolBox! An Open Source animation program!
Fair enough, but Region 1 DVDs are invariably much better than the Region 2 DVDs we get over here. Bad transfers, less special features, and almost twice the price.
Also, I think you'll find that many films do make a lot of their money from the home market; in some cases it can turn a cinema flop into a modest success....
I read the actual text of the decree. The decree is actually a patch upon regulations that impose a certain delay that is imposed between the moment a film is shown in theaters and the moment it can be sold or rented in videocassettes, video discs, DVDs and so. The decree makes it explicit that this delay holds whatever linguistic version is concerned.
These regulations were originally imposed by the movie theater lobbies. Similarly, most TV channels cannot broadcast real movies on Saturday evening, because it was thought that TV may kill movie theaters. I find such things a bit ridiculous (I myself think theaters would have more clients if they were cheaper... but they are coming to it, with cheap monthly "all you can see" passes), but France is, as the US and many other countries, partially run by lobbies.
Many movies are shown in France a certain time after they were shown in the US; for instance, Chicken Run, shown last summer in the US, is shown now in France. This is not a legal disposition; this is merely a choice of the big movie companies. Sometimes, Zone 1 DVDs (in original version) were imported when the film was shown at theaters.
What do you do about movies that have never ceased their original theater run after 25 years *AND* have a brand-spanking-new special edition double disc DVD box set? I know for a fact Rocky Horror is playing on at least two screens in France, so I guess they won't be allowed to get the DVD. Or, by the wording, the video either. I wonder how their cast is supposed to practice?
-Chris
...More Powerful than Otto Preminger...
Hi, I come from England (in Europe, where the history comes from).
We get our films way after the rest of Europe because movie companies are so tight we typically get the reels that were shown in the US, after the film has closed in their theatres. At least with dubbed films they actually have to bother about making a fresh set of films up with the new audio on them. As a result the French end up with less scratches as well as getting the film earlier. That said, they have to put up with any English people speaking as though they've just got back from the dentist and the anasthetic hasn't worn off yet. It is really strange to here how other nationalities think you sound. If that made sense.
It looks more like the French expressing dislike of the US. Interestingly they cannot (legally) bar a DVD simply because it is zone one, they can bar any imports they like from the USA (or anywhere outside the EU.)
Not ironic at all, at least not to him. I couldn't read that link, I got a 404, but he probably thinks, as we do, that software patents often grant exculsive access to obvious algorithms to be used for an unfair business advantage.
So how could such an intelligent, forward-thinking man promote region-coding? Well, I imagine that's not the point for him. The POINT is probably that some lobbying group has convinced him that the theatres lose money when a video, be it dvd or vhs, gets imported (lobbyists probably say "smuggled") before the first-run is over, thereby taking money away from legitimate French businesses and giving to these evil American pig-dogs.
Stereotypes and Monty Python jokes aside, he probably has a point: local theatre owners get screwed by so-called "pirated" movies. I don't have statistics on this, and they probably don't either, so maybe the problem is negligible. But maybe it's not.
Yeah, I think releasing movies at the same time worldwide might be an okay fix to that problem. Region coding is not, and it wasn't really the point of this legislation, I'm guessing. He basically used "Zone 1" to mean "DVDs of movies which we're still showing in theatres."
Thankfully, i'm not in France. If i were, this wouldn't worry me unduly; all i would have to do is purchase my R1 DVD's from an off-shore seller who sends them to me via. the normal postage system.
Play247 already do this sort of thing for the U.K. Not that it is illegal to sell R1 DVD's in the U.K, but being based in the Channel Isle's aparently makes it easier for them to secure R1 DVD's from the U.S. They get around import restrictions by sending each order in a seperate jiffy bag, and not selling the goods for more than £18 each (Good over £18 are taxable on import).
There is no reason why Play247 couldn't offer the same service to our French friends over there. The only thing this law will do in France is to harm DVD sales.
Syllable : It's an Operating System
This sounds like the sort of thing that the European court will immediately shoot down. It limits trade in a way that is not good for consumers, for no particular reason other than that it's good for the producers of the movies. I don't see how this could hold out against the court. They usually do the right thing.
I believe posters are recognized by their sig. So I made one.
This is untrue. Not only the French people do not hate Americans (they actually rather love the US), the French also have nothing against the British. There are no Englophobic tabloids in France, for example, or any kind of this crap. All this shit belongs to the past, the 20th century has taught the French the harshest lessons one could imagine, and it worked.
/. article has absolutely no connection with our so-called cultural and linguistic paranoia, so I really wonder why on earth you guys felt obliged to bring these issues on the table once again. The French are fond of many Anglo-Saxon things, and should not be insulted because a few vocal archaic politicians as well as an historic instituion full of elderly impotents (Academie Francaise) do or say silly things, which are immediately amplified in an unjustified manner in the Anglo-Saxon media.
And, by the way, this
The French law makes region codes redundant. No longer can the MPAA and its equivalents tell the EU that they're justified in keeping region codes because they want to set different release dates in different regions. The only remaining use for region codes becomes price gouging, and THAT'S ILLEGAL.
And how is my logic that as computer cracking is illegal you should get rid of your login system? Your login system has no legal issues: It is not illegal to have a login system, and never will be. It IS illegal to price gouge in the way region codes allow companies to.
The conclusion that as the French law allows DVD manufacturers to stage releases, that therefore region codes are supported by them, is utter twaddle. Everything that undermines the arguments of the producers in keeping region codes is legitimate, and this is a case where, frankly, an import ban is being imposed to make region codes redundant, so is undermining their usability. What part of redundant and/or illegal do you not understand?
--
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
A Gasp! is heard through the crowd.
But why? You ask. Well, I'll tell you. For one, movies don't come out at the same time all over the world. While we Americans love to think the world revolves around us (and there are many who'll never think otherwise), that's just not the case. While a DVD may come out over here for What Lies Beneath this January, it just opened in Italy. So you wonder, why would the Italians bother seeing it at all if they could get the DVD in a few weeks?
I'm all for supporting the filmmakers I like, love and respect. I would be happy to give my money towards Ridley Scott's efforts, or Paul Thomas Anderson's, or Darren Aranofsky's, and theatrical runs are what fuel the fire for them to get financing so they can (hopefully) make better movies. Of course it's all about money, and the fact that studios don't have all the legalese worked out for distrobution by the time it hits American audiences. But the point still remains that a filmmakers efforts are (normally) judged by either:
a) How much the film makes at the theaters, or
b) How many awards it takes.
You have to have one or the other, and hopefully both. American Beauty wasn't racing up the box office until it won Best Picture, Actor, Director, Cinematography and Screenplay. After that, Dreamworks Re-released it (for the third time) and it made its way over 100 million. Sometimes the best films get looked over, and believe it or not, Region Coding can actually help films from becoming that way.
It's still business, I'll freely admit, but it's also a question of loyalty and how far you'll go (all the way to the theater) to support the directors/actors/writers you like.
The French have a law stating that movies cannot be sold on video (OR DVD) for 6 months after they hit the theaters. It used to be 9! They cannot appear on pay per view for 9 months and on premium movie channels (Canal+) for 1 year. This law simply bans selling Zone 1 DVDs of the movie while the ban is in effect. These fell into a loophole before.
Honestly, it's no worse than the old law was! A little better even, since the time has been reduced. The real "accros" will be able to get their fix over the net anyway.
pétard
.sig: file not found
The real reason they hate the US is that after they bankrupted themselves financing your revolution you made that pesky declaration of independence rather than becoming a french client state out of sheer gratitude. Grabbing Louisiana at fire-sale prices and then making a great deal of money out of it just added insult to injury in french eyes.
About the only way you could rub it in any further is by naming a few major landmarks after notable french defeats: most of the really good ones are gone (Trafalgar, Waterloo, Blenheim) and I imagine Dien Ben Phu Square is probably a bit near the quick for the US, but Washington DC could be suitably adorned with a "Napoleon Died A Lonely Death In Exile Avenue" at no great cost.
-- AndrewD
A Maze of Twisty Little Laws, All Different.
Any bans on the basis of zone are probably void. The headline of this thread suggests that that's what the French government are "in effect" trying to do. Piffle. The French government are merely upholding the principle that the industry be allowed to release at different times in different countries, and in that respect they're undermining the region code system, not supporting it.
By putting into law the practice of releasing at different times, the region code becomes redundant for that purpose. It becomes infinitely easier therefore to attack it as merely an attempt to enforce price discrimination.
Could we see a few less "conclusion" based headlines on Slashdot please? 9 times out of 10 the wording seems to be some idiotic and unjustified "conclusion" that has nothing to do with the subject matter, or as in this case, is completely opposite to the likely effect. Normally we call unjustified, unargued, highly-opinionated sermons on any subject trolls. At what point do we regard Slashdot's editors as no better than the Hot Grits/Goat Sex crowd?
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You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.