New Zealand ISP's Anti-Geoblocking Service Makes Waves

angry tapir writes New Zealanders and Australians are often blocked from using cheap streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu and instead at the mercy of local content monopolies for popular shows such as Game of Thrones. However, a New Zealand ISP, Slingshot, has caused a stir by making a previously opt-in service called 'Global Mode' a default for its customers. The new service means that people in NZ don't need to bother with VPNs or setting up proxies if they want to sign up to Netflix — they can just visit the site. The service has also caused a stir in Australia where the high price for digital goods, such as movies from the iTunes store, is a constant source of irritation for consumers.

Comments

Not Australian, but I support this!

[XnavxeMiyyep]

The Internet should be global.

Re:Not Australian, but I support this!

[slashmydots]

It is. What the problem is is Hollywood and their media licensing rules. They're the ones that decided that streaming to an additional country costs more. Netflix didn't decide that all on their own for no reason.

Re:Not Australian, but I support this!

[Anonymous Coward]

Hollywood and their media licensing rules.

See this is where we went wrong, allowing Hollywood to dictate anything beyond what happens in their films (let's face it, they shouldn't be allowed that, either).

Re:Not Australian, but I support this!

[Anonymous Coward]

Aussies have voted themselves high taxes on all goods. If they are tired of paying the high taxes on them, well golly do something about it.

Care to name those specific taxes, Mr Expert?

The price differential is due to supply and demand, specifically the lack of supply/competition. The local stores have a monopoly on distribution through import agreements with manufacturers which lets them charge what the fuck they want, the retail prices contain a 100-200% mark-up over the actual wholesale cost, including tax, and it is pure profit.

Re:Needed to stop anyway

[Anonymous Coward]

There is no "presence" in other countries in most cases. It's certainly not a requirement. Most of the "indie" games on steam have no "presence" in say Australia, and yet the price in Australia is not [US Price] * ($AU/$US) in AUD or just [US Price] in USD.

It has nothing to do with "costs to maintaining and presence in another country". It is solely due to "that's what Xians are willing to pay for the game", which unsurprisingly pisses people off since most people don't like being charged more than someone else for no reason other than the seller thinks they are dumb enough to pay more.

Re:Will local rights holders sue?

[Sique]

When the geo-locking was declared illegal in connection with DVDs, nothing happened. Thus it will be the same again with the streaming services.

Re:Will local rights holders sue?

[fustakrakich]

Then it will be back to bittorrent. It's best for all to tear down the walls.

Globalization

[HaaPoo]

It is very interesting that globalization is welcomed when reducing cost to produce and increasing the profit, but when it is issue of globalization on purchase price companies resist and try to stop it.

Re:Don't they feel special..

[PPH]

there is varying levels of taxation per country.

Which should be handled the same way a DVD purchase by a NZ resident visiting the USA is. The transaction occurred on US soil, subject to US taxes. If you carry that product into another tax jurisdiction, it's not the problem of the manufacturer or vendor.

complying with certain country specific rules (different ratings, having to provide dual language support in places like Quebec)

Again, its the responsibility (and choice) of the customer. If someone from Quebec purchases material in the USA without a French audio track, its their choice. Not the US vendor's problem.