Slashdot Mirror
EU To Investigate DVD pricing
traffosky writes: "At
this address, the BBC says that the EU's competition commissioner,
Mario Monti, is about to lauch an investigation into DVD pricing policies on the European side of the Atlantic. He is unhappy with the fact that EU consumers pay about 25% more than their US counterparts. He will also be asking Hollywood about the regional coding system. I'm not sure if the BBC 'get it' yet, though: they filed this story under "Entertainment: Film"." Perhaps this zoning thing will draw even more deserved scrutiny -- as it already has from a UK supermarket chain and from the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) down under.
I always viewed region coding as essential to releasing DVDs, simply due to the various legally binding distribution contracts. (Note: I am not saying this is a good way to do it, but i feel this is the reason for their existence)
For example, the movie Titanic was distributed by Paramount in the US only, and Fox got the rights to sell it elsewhere. To sell the same exact disc everywhere, both Paramount and Fox would have to agree on the disc features, extra footage copyrights, packaging, etc. Whereas if Paramount had one version, they wouldn't need Fox's approval. Compromise across corporate boundaries is often VERY difficult to broker.
This brokering would lead to serious delays in releasing of the disc globally. And actually might cost more to develop in the long run.
Tom
Hmm. On Friday Amazon (yeah, ok) delivered five DVDs to me at work.
I live/work in the UK, which is in region 2. All five discs were region 1.
Better yet, they are all the new improved "wont work on regionless players" region 1.
Y'know what? I stuck them in my DVD player on Saturday, and they all work fine. And that DVD player can also play all the region 2 discs I own.
So I'm a little confused by the zoning thing. As far as I can tell, its main purpose is to give me more choice of which DVD I want to buy - the overpriced region 2 disc with minimal extras, or the region 1 Criterion Collection version with four commentaries, outtakes, storyboards, etc. Don't forget the other regions (also playable on my player).
Since I haven't had my player modified - even by the company I purchased it from - but use only its core built-in technologies, and since the player costs about half of a decent video player, anybody that gets caught by regionalisation either doesn't care or is too daft to know. And most people in the UK are not too daft..
~Cederic
I wish that someone (or some group) would check out the prices of CD's in the states (and around the worls for that matter). I know that there are marketing and royalty costs that come with each CD but to pay $15 for a CD is crazy. I think this is why MP3's became so popular. If it was easy to compress and move a movie over the net I am sure we would see a rise in movie sharing.
"If ignorance is bliss, why aren't there more happy people in the world?"
"The best way to get the price of DVDs down is to stop buying them!!!"
Only partially true. No-one bought DiVX when Circuit City launched it. Result - the format dies a death. Very few people bought laserdiscs. Result - Special Editions costing over $100 and even bare-bones discs at $40.
What you are saying is true to some extent, as I'm sure Paramount would drop their prices closer to some of the cheaper studios if they thought the numbers looked bad at their current price, but you are only getting your cheap discs in Walmart (or any discs in Walmart) because they are selling well.
In any case, the issue here is that discs in the EU are significantly more expensive than US discs. What the EU are probably concerned about is that Region Encoding is locking the average consumer into buying the expensive local disc, rather than importing a cheap US one. Naturally, the clued in just mod chip their players round the problem, but thats not a solution for everyone.
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
CSS Region coding is a tool used to "extract the customer surplus". You charge a price in a given market which is optimal for profits considering the number of units that will sell and the margin.
It is also the first step down a slippery slope. Its a tenative first step: right now the average person wont notice it, and will probably not even realize that it exists.
But if its accepted then it will fester. Pretty soon the price for a movie or a song will be set based upon which state you live in. Then by which city. Ultimatly they will charge each customer the most they are willing to pay.
We will each end up with "trusted" computers and electronics that use a "secure media path" all the way to the speakers and screen. Each individual will have to get their own copies, digitally signed to their account number and device id's. Of course when you buy a new Movie player youll have to buy your movies all over again- because the old ones will only play on your old player.
It wont be so bad, fairly well automated, all content downloaded online right into your player. $40 wont be too bad for a flick. And you dont really care that the rich guy down the street has to pay $400 for the same exact movie- thats his problem, right?
Is this where we want to end up?
But then, this analogy is flawed.
You see, a specific flight on a given route has a finite amount of space. If there are 300 seats for sale, it is just damn well impossible to stuff 350 people into a plane. (OK, theoretically it's possible, but you won't be in business very long).
This also applies when you combine the capacity of all given carriers. There is so-and-so much capacity for a given route and if there is a lot of (over-)capacity, this potentially drives prices down. That's the reason why you fly cheaper from Los Angeles to New Yourk, then from Hicksville to Muskogee. Even if it's 8 time the distance.
You also conveniently forget the restrictions attached to cheaper flight tickets. If I pay up to 5 times the price for a full fare business class ticket, that gives me the right to board or not board the booked flight at my convenience. I don't even have to call the airline to cancel and I can change my schedule at any time and at no charge.
Now, the more cheapo an airline ticket is, the more strings are attached: Minimum/maximum stay, Sunday stay-over, No refunds, schedules can not be changed, or changes carry a stiff penalty, etc.
What a business person needs is flexibility more then any thing else. Not only the flexibility to book four hours in advance, but also to change her plans at whim.
This is very different with medias. Be it software, music or motion pictures. Once you payed for the production and/or development costs, the cost of a copy is marginal.
Don't get me wrong; huge amounts where invested into those products and the production entities certainly have a right to make a fair profit on their investments.
They definitely don't have the right to exploit customers, based on rules and backed by laws which are convenient only to them.
Unless of course they can obtain the best politicians money can buy...
ich bin der musikant
mit taschenrechner in der hand
kraftwerk
> I'm not sure if the BBC 'get it' yet, though:
> they filed this story under "Entertainment:
> Film".
As opposed to "getting it" Slashdot, which
filed it under "Movies". Ummmm...
Chris Mattern
EU: "In that case, we demand that the region system is abandoned."
Depends who is in charge though...
Germany: We demand equality and freedom for our citizens. Ban region codes.
French: Dirty Hollywood ruins our lovely film industry. Abolish region codes, and while we're at it, let's ban US films period. That should annoy the Americans and the British at the same time.
Netherlands: Whatever the opposite of what Germany wants.
British: America is our friend. They are very nice people. Let's do what they want. Another missile base, Mr Bush? Why of course! Treaties? Oh I'm sure nobody's really bothered about those old things. Plus, it'll really annoy the French. Let's make imports cheaper and compulsary
Italians: There were rules about this?
Eastern Europe (as one voice): There are non-pirated versions?
Spain: Yeah, whatever.
Switzerland: We're not in the EU.
So it really depends on which contries sit on the comittee, really. And am I the only person in the world that is worried about the fact that all Switzerland's neighbouring countries would describe them as "shy, quiet.. keep themselves to themselves.. seem like really nice, polite fellows, wouldn't hurt a fly". It's only a matter of time.
---------------------------
'No rational religion claims "supernatural" exists, that's an atheist slander.' - seen on slashdot.
When they say zone protection is to protect their business, it's bullshit. It's to protect their profit without value-adding in their products. If they really want to prevent water goods, they can:
- Don't price up outragously in some regions
- Make some regional specific stuffs, e.g. european languages version, so that customers would prefer to buy they own regional version
In the past they'd focus on customers' satisfaction, now they find legal ways to restrict customers from making their own purchase preferences - with Government consent. That's sad.
DVD for movies is great, but the way the
entertainment companies are treating their
customers is sort of annoying. I'm a German
citizen, my wife is Italian and we both talk
English very well. If I go to buy a DVD in Germany
it often happens that the soundtrack is only
German. If we buy DVD in Italy the soundtrack
is usually Italian and sometimes also English.
The most annoying thing so far was "Terminator 2"
which has an English soundtrack, but with
italian subtitles that can't be turned off.
Do the entertainment firms think that the
customer is so stupid that he really needs
subtitles. If I use the original soundtrack,
then I do it for a reason of course and if I
would like to have subtitles in my native
language I would turn them off. But forcing
you to do it in a way you don't want to do
is really annoying. Customers are treated like
kids in the kindergarten.
Well, at least my problem with DVD is not the
price (that is pretty high of course) but the
availability of languages (even when all are
using the same region code).