They should be so lucky that people are even wiling to VPN and "illegally" subscribe to any entertainment services down here in Australia. Their distribution of some of this media is awful, it's a lot more convenient for people here to torrent everything. We have high piracy rates for a reason.
Sony Pictures mad at Netflixs failure to block overseas VPN users
- Thread starter ComputerMKII
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The Faceless Master
Member
many people *IN THE US* use US VPNs because their US ISP throttles Netflix, but doesn't throttle it when they don't know it's Netflix because of the VPN. why would Netflix make their own US customers unhappy?
MMaRsu
Gold Member
Lol I know right? Clueless idiots at sony pictures haha
Death Metalist
Member
"We don't give a shit about the other markets so stop giving us your money on the market you most certainly don't deserve to be on!"
First post nails it.
I understand why Sony is unhappy with Netflix, but they're raging against the symptom here, not the disease.
IISANDERII
Member
OH NO, JUST CHECKED AND I'M BLOCKED FROM ACCESSING OTHER REGIONS
Ah well no need to be angry no more Sony and other studios who were mad at Netflix. No more problems for you, evrrything is solved and taken care of. Don't worry, nothing to see here. You can go home now. Bye!
Ah well no need to be angry no more Sony and other studios who were mad at Netflix. No more problems for you, evrrything is solved and taken care of. Don't worry, nothing to see here. You can go home now. Bye!
jakonovski
Member
I'm constantly amazed at the ways media companies devise new ways of not getting my money. Seriously, I don't care about your corporate slapfight. Give me good service or fuck off.
I'm sure people will find a way around it. In the process, they will piss off people and lose subscribers.
Already seems to have started, Netflix no longer loads from my Australian PSN account on my PS3 (PS4 works fine still) but if I log in with my US PSN account it still works fine.
Also I downloaded Netflix for my Samsung tablet and it wouldn't let me log in regardless of my DNS settings, no such problem using Netflix on my iPad though.
Knew this was coming, an awful lot of the vpn and dns services really started pushing 1 year upfront subscriptions probably to mitigate or delay the loss of revenue.
Wickerbasket
Member
Yeah, I don't see how this is going to work out for them.
In the end, it'll probably just lead to a loss of money as customers look elsewhere for their content.
There should not be a "US distribution right" or an "Australian distribution right". These companies are retarded. This is a global industry with customers throughout the world. Thankfully Im in Canada so there are dozens of legal and paid avenues for me to watch the media I want. But do they expect people in Brazil or Australia or Sweden to just wait, and do nothing? Would you rather they pirate your movie or show? Or would you rather make it as easy as possible to receive money in exchange for your media?
I am 100% grossed out by the notion that movie companies want to control what viewers in each country cam watch. Fuck off.
I am 100% grossed out by the notion that movie companies want to control what viewers in each country cam watch. Fuck off.
It's against the ToS with Netflix but they don't really care but they do check your location when you sign up. They are getting money though
Sony should be happy as people are paying for the content rather than getting it for free.
That means more money in the system, more money and competitors to bid for content and that equals more money for Sony (and other producers) in the end.
If I didn't have Netflix I wouldn't be paying their Australian distributors as they are a complete rip off and an old business model that doesn't care for the consumer.
I wouldn't pirate either as I don't mind missing out.
So in the end, distributors can get smart, stop releasing content into different locations at different times with hugely different costs or people will continue to find and view the content when they want, how they want
Also Netflix can't block Smart DNS services, they'll work their way around it. And if they did implement a total block across all known Smart DNS and VPN services then they'd just be annoying their 'legitimate' customers who use these services.
They can't block CC from other locations as what about people travelling or people living overseas with a CC from their original country?
To implement draconian measures to sign up then pay for their service then put restrictions on viewing would turn away too many people
Edit - and what about people that buy DVD's or Blu-Rays when on holiday overseas for movies/shows that aren't released their country yet? Why not target them?
Have the Sony Execs ever walked into a street market in Thailand or Vietnam? Thousands upon thousands of pirated movies and shows. Why not target them?
Sony should be happy as people are paying for the content rather than getting it for free.
That means more money in the system, more money and competitors to bid for content and that equals more money for Sony (and other producers) in the end.
If I didn't have Netflix I wouldn't be paying their Australian distributors as they are a complete rip off and an old business model that doesn't care for the consumer.
I wouldn't pirate either as I don't mind missing out.
So in the end, distributors can get smart, stop releasing content into different locations at different times with hugely different costs or people will continue to find and view the content when they want, how they want
Also Netflix can't block Smart DNS services, they'll work their way around it. And if they did implement a total block across all known Smart DNS and VPN services then they'd just be annoying their 'legitimate' customers who use these services.
They can't block CC from other locations as what about people travelling or people living overseas with a CC from their original country?
To implement draconian measures to sign up then pay for their service then put restrictions on viewing would turn away too many people
Edit - and what about people that buy DVD's or Blu-Rays when on holiday overseas for movies/shows that aren't released their country yet? Why not target them?
Have the Sony Execs ever walked into a street market in Thailand or Vietnam? Thousands upon thousands of pirated movies and shows. Why not target them?
Daniel Jackson
Member
Still working here...for now, using unblock-us on the iPad app. If they update their app with a hardcoded Google DNS, I think it's over.
Brawly Likes to Brawl
Member
Why don't these companies actually help their business partner expand into more countries instead of telling people who want to give them money to fuck off? This shit is so backwards.
Between nonsense like this and ISPs bullying them for their lunch, I feel pretty bad for Netflix. The service offers so much potential for legal entertainment viewing but so many corporations keep standing in the way of it for increasingly dumb reasons.
Between nonsense like this and ISPs bullying them for their lunch, I feel pretty bad for Netflix. The service offers so much potential for legal entertainment viewing but so many corporations keep standing in the way of it for increasingly dumb reasons.
bluepolicebox
Member
Same here. Please don't take away my non-US Netflix
Too many holes in the library to stick with just one region.Marty Chinn
Member
Netflix doesn't want to pay Sony for worldwide rights. This is Netflix's problem not Sony.
EightBitNate
Member
Everyone bullies Netflix.
Miles Quaritch
Member
This would be the last straw for me. If I can't access US Netflix, I'm cancelling and will stick with Amazon Instant Video, which has really surprised me in terms of selection over the past few weeks.
Madness that studios would be angry about people paying to view their content.
Marty Chinn
Member
They aren't paying Sony though. Netflix needs to pay up.
Who are they paying for Sony content?
Dark Ninja
Member
Im not sure I get what they are actually doing. Are they banning the blockers or the users? would they go out of their way to lose money by banning a subscriber. Couldn't you just sign up with a different email if you get banned. Hola Unblocker still seems to be working ill get a few error messages but just reload a few times and you will get through. Also are there any reports of somebody getting banned yet?
This is just going to lead to more pirating
This is just going to lead to more pirating
They'd be banning IP ranges
Marty Chinn
Member
Think of it this way. You go with your family to breakfast and you order the all you can eat breakfast plate. You then share that with the rest of your family. The restaurant would claim you're not paying enough. That's what Sony is doing. Netflix paid for the US but then let the rest of the world have access to it. Netflix takes advantage of it while Sony doesn't get the money.
RandyBobandy
Banned
Fuck Netflix then. I'll simply cancel my subscription.
I'm watching the American Netflix right now thanks to unblock
They can get fucked if they think I'm only going to watch the shitty Irish version
You Are Viewtiful
Member
Lol what a bunch of whiners. They can take their shows off Netflix and then they will know what real piracy is.
So they should have negotiated a per watch fee or something. Dividing up the world and charging a set fee for licensing by region was never going to work.
Nothing like that example.
Who is Sony/Netflix in the example?
And you didn't answer the question. Do Netflix pay Sony for the content?
And Netflix say you're not allowed to do it and they have checks in place to stop people from doing it.
Then they will loose me within the year... for a free alternative.
What a victory for the cinema industry it will be.
snoopeasystreet
Member
I'd assume it's more of the case that the rights for films are split on a country by country basis so Netflix just couldn't acquire the ability to show it internationally without stepping on some other companies toes.
Do we know if Netflix pays a flat rate to get content on their service or are payouts proportionate to how many people view the content? If it's the latter then your argument doesn't really work because Sony would still be earning money from people watching through VPN. The people losing out would be the company who has the rights for a film in country X but nobody's watching on their service because everyone in the county is circumventing region restrictions on Netflix.
I doubt Netflix wouldn't have tried to negotiate a license for all the regions.
Rabid Wolverine
Member
Yep just like Australia. Foxtel controls almost everything, Netflix Australia will be shit.
Geoblocking providers will find ways around it. They don't wanna lose all that revenue and refund people unhappy that Netflix isn't accessible.
Marty Chinn
Member
A per watch fee doesn't work in favor of Netflix unless you want your rates to go up. This is not Sony's fault. It's Netflix's. People need to stop blaming Sony and start blaming Netflix. Any money that is spent goes to Netflix and not Sony so it makes no difference if you pirate it or not. All the claims that people are paying them is wrong. They don't see any of that money.
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