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llien · Nov 22, 2017

The European Union has agreed a plan obliging online retailers operating in the bloc to make electrical goods, concert tickets or car rental available to all EU consumers regardless of where they live. Putting an end to "geoblocking", whereby consumers in one EU country cannot buy a good or service sold online in another, has been a priority for the EU as it tries to create a digital single market with 24 legislative proposals. The agreement late on Monday between the European Parliament, the EU's 28 member states and the Commission will allow EU consumers to buy products and services online from any EU country. The agreement applies to e-commerce sites including Amazon and eBay.

Back in 2012

Pub landlady Karen Murphy wins TV football court case with the English Premier League over using a Greek TV decoder to show games.

Karen Murphy has paid nearly £8,000 in fines and costs for using the cheaper decoder in her Portsmouth pub. But she took her case to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). It found partly in her favour, and now the High Court in London has also found in her favour.

Some businesses can't be happier about UK leaving EU.
I also wonder how services such as DAZN could react (it is sports streaming service available only in a handful of (richer) european countries)

UPDATE: NEVER MIND

The proposal does not extend to copyright-protected content, which includes music streaming services such as Spotify and Apple's iTunes, electronic books, television series and movies.

The Parliament had hoped to include these services, but music industries successfully argued this could lead to price increases in countries where such services are cheaper.

t-storm · Nov 22, 2017

That's great news... if only North America could do the same.

Tiring getting the "not available in your region" message all the time.

Dear god at that 2012 case you quoted...

michaelius · Nov 22, 2017

t-storm said:
That's great news... if only North America could do the same.

Tiring getting the "not available in your region" message all the time.

Dear god at that 2012 case you quoted...

Great news unless you live in one of poorer EU countries which used to sometimes get region adjusted pricing.

Dunki · Nov 22, 2017

So does this mean that I can use VPN to watch US netflix content again?^^

llien · Nov 22, 2017

Dunki said:
So does this mean that I can use VPN to watch US netflix content again?^^

US market is out of reach in this case. What it won't allow is selling it for X in one EU country but for X*2.7 in another(I'm making up numbers).
They would also not be able to block you from viewing it, regardless of which EU country you are in.

LordRaptor · Nov 22, 2017

michaelius said:
Great news unless you live in one of poorer EU countries which used to sometimes get region adjusted pricing.

yeah, this is going to be the actual result - things like steam regional pricing where countries like estonia would get cheaper games because they have lower earnings and cost of living are just going to get "tier 1" country pricing now instead.

CSJ · Nov 22, 2017

Hopefully it forces the at least some of the world world to update it's database on places that exist on the planet. For 17 years it's been an annoyance for me where a lot of places can't decide if I'm actually on Jersey, in the UK, France, Guernsey or unknown.

BibiMaghoo · Nov 22, 2017

LordRaptor said:
yeah, this is going to be the actual result - things like steam regional pricing where countries like estonia would get cheaper games because they have lower earnings and cost of living are just going to get "tier 1" country pricing now instead.

Companies can still set whatever prices they want in any different country to adjust for the wages of the population, this does seem to effect that at all, simply blocking the service unless you are in a specific country.

DiscoJer · Nov 23, 2017

BibiMaghoo said:
Companies can still set whatever prices they want in any different country to adjust for the wages of the population, this does seem to effect that at all, simply blocking the service unless you are in a specific country.

But they won't, because as in the case that won, a UK woman used a Greek decoder to show sports for much less money. This ruling says that's legal.

Companies will now set things at the highest price possible in order to get rid of the grey market.

Syriel · Nov 23, 2017

llien said:
US market is out of reach in this case. What it won't allow is selling it for X in one EU country but for X*2.7 in another(I'm making up numbers).
They would also not be able to block you from viewing it, regardless of which EU country you are in.

France's theaters are going to flip out over this if it applies to Netflix.

Alx · Nov 23, 2017

Syriel said:
France's theaters are going to flip out over this if it applies to Netflix.

The OP mentions e-commerce, but it would be a complex issue with content streaming indeed, since there's always the issue of getting a production license for each country. As long as that is not normalized within the EU, it should not be possible to force free streaming of content across borders.

DiscoJer said:
But they won't, because as in the case that won, a UK woman used a Greek decoder to show sports for much less money. This ruling says that's legal.

Companies will now set things at the highest price possible in order to get rid of the grey market.

I think it's more likely that they'll try to it make more convenient for people to use their local market, rather than directly blocking it. If the Greek shop is open to everyone but only available in Greek language (or if the translation icon is well hidden), a majority of customers won't bother and will stay on their local site.

Syriel · Nov 23, 2017

Alx said:
The OP mentions e-commerce, but it would be a complex issue with content streaming indeed, since there's always the issue of getting a production license for each country. As long as that is not normalized within the EU, it should not be possible to force free streaming of content across borders.

Netflix would LOVE it if the EU were a single market.

The only reason it's split like it is, is because every EU country wants to protect its own little slice.

Geoblocking exists across the EU because the citizens of the EU have (for the most part) been in favor of it.

Vlodril · Nov 23, 2017

That sounds great. Hopefully it gets done. Amazon is especially annoying at times trying to get an item and getting this item is not available in your country etc.

More than that more integration between the eu countries can lead to other better things as well.

Lucumo · Nov 23, 2017

llien said:
US market is out of reach in this case. What it won't allow is selling it for X in one EU country but for X*2.7 in another(I'm making up numbers).
They would also not be able to block you from viewing it, regardless of which EU country you are in.

From the article:

The proposal does not extend to copyright-protected content, which includes music streaming services such as Spotify and Apple's iTunes, electronic books, television series and movies.

Vlodril said:
That sounds great. Hopefully it gets done. Amazon is especially annoying at times trying to get an item and getting this item is not available in your country etc.

Companies will no longer be able to re-direct consumers to a country-specific website without their consent. However, consumers will still have to organize how to pick up a product if the company does not offer cross-border delivery.

llien · Nov 23, 2017

Lucumo said:
From the article:

You are right, just came to post this:

The proposal does not extend to copyright-protected content, which includes music streaming services such as Spotify and Apples iTunes, electronic books, television series and movies.

The Parliament had hoped to include these services, but music industries successfully argued this could lead to price increases in countries where such services are cheaper.

Sorry for misleading excerpt in OP.

Dunki · Nov 23, 2017

llien said:
You are right, just came to post this:

Sorry for misleading excerpt in OP.

Booo..

Honestly I do not care about the price. I just want to see the same shit other people can see on their netflix or amazon accounts.

Also since UK is not in the EU anymore I can still not watch the far superior Olympics channels.....

PS: Still no way to play Wolfenstein uncensored on PC sicne its also gelocked...

D65 · Nov 23, 2017

Dunki said:
Booo..

Honestly I do not care about the price. I just want to see the same shit other people can see on their netflix or amazon accounts.

Also since UK is not in the EU anymore I can still not watch the far superior Olympics channels.....

PS: Still no way to play Wolfenstein uncensored on PC sicne its also gelocked...

It does make sense though. Can't make it too expensive for economies that the average person could never really afford, and the only reason why they can offer the service for cheaper in those places is because of the higher price in other areas.

KonradLaw · Nov 24, 2017

Single digital EU market is terrible idea. All it would mean is rising prices in poor countries.

TimFL · Nov 24, 2017

Games were mentioned nowhere. Does this apply to Steam? Could be a way of importing uncut games in germany.

Blood Borne · Nov 24, 2017

If there was a law that stopped retailers from selling their goods to other countries and this law removes that hindrance, then this is good news.

But if this law FORCES all retailers that they MUST sell their goods across to other countries, then this law sucks and is totalitarian.

Dunki · Nov 24, 2017

TimFL said:
Games were mentioned nowhere. Does this apply to Steam? Could be a way of importing uncut games in germany.

I do not think so. Also rarley games get censored anymore. If they are getting censored its because of swastikas. The rest gets not censored but rather on the Index which means Steam can not sell it all in Germany. Example Zombie Games are very often on this list. Games like Dying Light for example.

llien · Nov 24, 2017

Dunki said:
I do not think so. Also rarley games get censored anymore. If they are getting censored its because of swastikas. The rest gets not censored but rather on the Index which means Steam can not sell it all in Germany. Example Zombie Games are very often on this list. Games like Dying Light for example.

In TeamFortress 2 I bought in Germany it is robots that you fight against. So when you kill or get killed, there is no blood, some oil and gears/springs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmengocYzrM

Dunki · Nov 24, 2017

llien said:
In TeamFortress 2 I bought in Germany it is robots that you fight against. So when you kill or get killed, there is no blood, some oil and gears/springs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmengocYzrM

Yeah that happend with many older games. Half-Life had robots too as enemies. If a scientist was killed he is just sitting on the ground shaking his head until he disappears. Old games are still full of censorship.

I was more talking about new releases these days. They either are uncensored or landing on the Index like most Zombie Games...

Z.. · Nov 24, 2017

LordRaptor said:
yeah, this is going to be the actual result - things like steam regional pricing where countries like estonia would get cheaper games because they have lower earnings and cost of living are just going to get "tier 1" country pricing now instead.

As a "tier 3" country EU resident, everything is more expensive here, not cheaper. Essentials such as rent, food and transportation are vastly cheaper, but any premium purchase is way more expensive. Games, cars, books, blurays, electronics, you name it. It's why I import everything from UK, France or Germany. I make just under 6000 a year, for reference. Games come out at 70 on literally every store here, where as new releases can usually be bought for around 50 on the previously mentioned countries.

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