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In New Zealand, a Legal Battle Looms Over Streaming TV
SpacemanukBEJY.53u writes After a threat from a law firm, two New Zealand ISPs have withdrawn services that let their customers navigate to content sites outside the country that world normally be geo-blocked. Using VPNs or other services to access content restricted by region isn't specifically outlawed in either New Zealand or in neighboring Australia, but it appears the entertainment industry is prepared to go to court to try and argue that such services can violate copyright law. Intellectual property experts said the situation in New Zealand, if it goes to court, could result in the first test case over the legality of skirting regional restrictions.
Because, the entertainment industry has decided that it is 100% in control of who are their customers, when they are their customers, and how much they will have to pay for the privilege of being customers.
In this case, I suspect because they've decided the people in New Zealand will get it six months later, for twice the price.
The same as they don't want you to be able to buy a DVD elsewhere in the world and bring it into your own country and watch it.
Of course the media industry is malignant, but they keep bribing or bullying lawmakers to stack the deck in their favor ... so much so that the copyright of multinational corporations is more firmly entrenched in the law than the rights of citizens on some topics.
We live in a world in which the media companies have co-opted the legal system, with the help of governments who help push the agenda against the interests of their own citizens.
If the media companies had any say in the matter, buying a CD to rip the songs to MP3 to play on your portable device would be illegal.
Because they're assholes who somehow feel their business model is more important than property rights.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
It doesn't matter whether it is illegal or not. John Key (the prime minister) changed the country's employment laws under urgency when Warner Brothers threatened to move the hobbit offshore due to a union problem. I doubt a loop hole that allowed the NZ public to circumvent the will of the studios is going to survive long. But he has a great smile so we keep voting him in.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2010/oct/31/warner-bros-new-zealand-hobbit-film
Sky Television NZ wants to lockout any one trying to by pass paying them for it and you have to rent our box + pay for basic package.