Region discrimination

[Elie]

So in Canada, we cannot have access to Microsofts Media center streaming movies and TV shows. The thing is I get all the content, like a teaser but when I click to play, I get the dreaded, your country or region is not supported.

A) with a company the size of Microsoft, why couldn't they make content available to Canadians? Is it a licensing issue?

B) Sony recently added the video store on their Sony PS3's so that's good. I can rent or buy HD movies anytime.

C) How can I fake my IP so it looks like it's coming from the US?

[Evildead666]

A vpn tunnel that comes out in the US would work fine.

I' not sure, but a proxy might do it too.
There are free methods, but they are generally very slow, or always full...

I checked it out once when SouthParkStudios.com came online.
It was available worldwide for a very short while, in english
I was over he moon, then the dreaded "Not for you, you're not in the US of A".
Joost might have done better too if they had something else instead of really really old vids for people outside the US. And changed them at least once. It was the same content for the best part of a year.

[VJ]

A) Yep, it has to do with licensing and profits... Consider the ABC series Lost. ABC broadcasts it in the USA and makes money on advertising. Then they sell the series to foreign stations who also make money on advertising. But ABC also puts in online. And if the people outside of the USA could see the stream, ABC is undermining profits of the stations that bought the series (and as such decrease the sale value of the series). So they block this... IMO, it would be great if they would unblock it for all countries where it had been broadcasted, but I guess that is whishful thinking).

For some reason, Southpark seems to be available worldwide online now, from their own website. And despite this fact, stations still broadcast it. This illustrates it still is a viable solution, so maybe things might change... someday...

I only have negative experiences using free proxy, I suspect the broadcasters have a black list of proxy servers... (to be fair, I would have that too as a broadcaster )

[Evildead666]

I admit southpark is available, just not the latest episodes and stuff, and I suspect it is in French and not English.
I have flash audio probs atm...