Why No Movies In Canadian iTunes Store?
If you have ever wondered why there are no movies and television shows in the Canadian iTunes store, this post from Michael Geist should help explain things. I have complained about this before. The release of AppleTV has brought this issue to light. Protectionism should not win out over innovation. What about my case last month, where my HD signals kept dropping out and I was forced to download missed shows. Is that piracy? I don’t think so. If anything, internet downloads are a great option if you miss an episode of your favorite show. These guys are leaving money on the table, just like the music industry.
Of course the entire Canadian broadcast system is built on simulcasting U.S. shows and substituting Canadian ads. How is this a long term business model, given that I don’t need CTV to get “Lost”. Just look at the problem they had with scheduling the upcoming Juno awards. They were going to preempt Canadian content to make room for simulcasting a U.S. reality show (Amazing Race) that is readily available on CBS. And don’t forget last year, when CTV interrupted Desperate Housewives with Juno cut-ins all night. An executive at ABC was horrified when she found out about what CTV did. She said something about how that was not the way they intended the show to be viewed. No kidding. And it’s not the way I’m going to be watching my favorite show either. Sorry Canadian advertisers, you’re going to have to get my attention some other way. Like say, on the internet. On MY terms, not yours.
UPDATE…A few months later, more to report on this issue of regional restrictions.
NEW UPDATE…T.V. Downloads Coming To Canadian iTunes Store! T.V. Downloads NOW in Canadian iTunes.
ANOTHER UPDATE…Movies Now Available in Canadian iTunes Store.
[...] Canadian companies, which typically don’t communicate very well with their customers, are virtually silent on this whole thing. I did manage to scrape up this tidbit from the Globe & Mail in which the Rogers CFO, Bill Linton indicated he has no idea when the iPhone might be coming to Canada. In fact he admitted he hasn’t really spoken to anyone at Apple at all. Good grief. We can only hope it doesn’t take as long as getting movies and television shows in the iTunes store. We’re still waiting on that, by the way. But I digress. [...]
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