[78-L] Blockbuster dying??

[agp]

At 20:45 16/09/2009, fnarf wrote:
>But even they are under threat from Bittorrent, where virtually 
>anything you've ever heard of can be available, often in less time 
>than it takes to drive to a video store (if you have a fast 
>connection). Movie companies, like record companies, are stupid, and 
>will probably never get the point, which is EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE 
>ALL THE TIME. They keep nattering on about "piracy" when they refuse 
>to make the content available in any format at any price. I use 
>Bittorrent when I want to watch something for which I would gladly 
>pay a premium, except that no one offers it for sale or rent.
>
>Try buying a legal copy of "Charlie Bubbles" with Albert Finney, 
>Billie Whitelaw, and a very young Liza Minelli in the US. It's not 
>possible. It was only released on Region 2 last year, after forty 
>years of not being available on any format anywhere ever unless you 
>caught a rare TV showing.

And therein lies the problem. As long as stupidity such as region 
codes on dvds, geolocating on streaming content, and other practices 
exist people wil go the less-than-white markets for content.

Examples: programming such as series 2 of People Like Us from the BBC 
that is shown on the BBC domestically as well as BBC America and BBC 
Canada, yet only available on DVD on a region 4 (Mexico, Central and 
South America; Caribbean; Australia; New Zealand; Oceania) and sold 
only in 1 of those territories in the region.

The BBC iPlayer locking out viewers outside the UK, or portion of 
programming of Radio 4's live stream being blocked outside the UK. 
Such was the case with Radio 4 during the Olympics when major 
portions were wiped out because NBC had the internet rights. Try to 
go to the website for Canada's the Comedy Network if you live in teh 
states and you will be bopped to the site for the US's Comedy 
Central, and vice versa.

Then there is my favourite. I'm sitting in Churchill Manitoba far 
away from the US-Canada, and the cable system there carries the ABC, 
CBS, NBC, PBS, and Fox affiliates from Detroit, yet I can't I see 
CBC, CTV or Global on a cable system or satellite in the states. 
WNED, the PBS affiliate in Buffalo, which has a substantial 
viewership in Southern Ontario, including Toronto; it identifies as 
"Buffalo/Toronto" on-air and is carried on Canadian sat systems. Yet 
I can't see TVO, a Canadian equivalent here!

Is it any wonder why things like torrents, content of dubious 
copyright legality, and grey-market satellite dishes exist.

T