In Praise of Netflix

I didn't know how good it was going to be. I weep for the surplus I failed to obtain because I hadn't bothered setting up a very very simple VPN plug-in that would let me sign up.

Here's NZ ISP Orcon's explanatory guide. But even that makes it look too hard. Here's how you get your surplus.

1. Install Hola. It's a Chrome browser plug-in. Just follow the directions in your browser.
2. After installing Hola, hit the button on the Hola browser page for Netflix. You'll be signing in as American. But simply clicking the little flag later (accessed by hitting the >> symbol up at the top right of your screen) lets you be British, Brazilian, Canadian, or whatever you like.
3. Sign up for Netflix using your NZ credit card. Put in a US Zip code. That's it. You're now a Netflix member. Because we only wanted the online version, it didn't ask for a street address.
4. Watch Season 5 of Breaking Bad. When you want to watch Season 5 Part 2, you'll need to be British. So look at (2), above, and be British. Netflix will say "Hey! You're on holiday abroad! Content here differs." If you want to know what country you need to be to watch which content, hit CanIStreamIt. 

You could also use Unblock-us if you need router-level IP geomasking for multiple devices. I've had no problems with Hola, but have heard nothing but great things about Unblock-us as well.

Here's the NBR from last week:

"I got Netflix working at home last night, piece of cake, because I read an article somewhere on how to do it," the Orcon boss [Orcon CEO Greg McAlister] told NBR.

Netflix the US online service that lets you stream unlimited TV programmes and movies for $US8.95 a month. You can watch them on your regular television if you've got the right wi-fi gadget (such as Apple's $159 Apple TV box, which has both Netflix and Hulu apps if you sign in on a US account). In the US, according to Wired, the street-legal Netflix now accounts for more internet traffic than BitTorrent services, often used for shady sharing. Given the choice, it seems most people will do the right thing.

Sky TV has recently taken a front-foot approach, requesting that lines about how to connect to Netflix be removed from an Eric Crampton article.

But it might be the proverbial case of a finger in a leaking dyke.

When Green Labour* MP Clare Curran tweeted my NBR piece on getting Netflix, CEO of Copyright Licensing NZ and Chair of the Copyright Council of NZ Paula Browning jumped in. Clare pointed out, correctly, that Netflix lets people pay for content. Here's the rest of the conversation.

@clarecurranmp @EricCrampton that ignores distribution agreements in specific territories in which the local broadcaster has invested
— Paula Browning (@PaulaJBrowning) October 3, 2013

.@PaulaJBrowning @clarecurranmp We ignore dist agmts Rolex might have with locals when we allow parallel import. What makes you special?
— Eric Crampton (@EricCrampton) October 3, 2013

@EricCrampton @clarecurranmp I'm very special! We're talking industry & employment here. Its not a simple them vs us issue
— Paula Browning (@PaulaJBrowning) October 3, 2013

@PaulaJBrowning @clarecurranmp Sure sure, but why should copyright industries get protection from parallel import but not other industries?
— Eric Crampton (@EricCrampton) October 3, 2013

@EricCrampton @clarecurranmp whose talking copyright industries? These businesses aren't the artists. They pay huge $$ for distn agreements
— Paula Browning (@PaulaJBrowning) October 3, 2013

@PaulaJBrowning @clarecurranmp Suppose I pay $$$ to Nike for exclusive distribution rights. Then Warehouse parallel imports tons. Same thing
— Eric Crampton (@EricCrampton) October 3, 2013

I didn't get any reply, so I still don't know on what basis she'd distinguish exclusive dealing rights for copyright industries from exclusive dealing rights for other industries. Parallel importation does wonders in helping to keep prices down in what's otherwise a very expensive place to live. You can arrange with Nike that you're the sole authorised retailer of their shoes in New Zealand. But if The Warehouse (our version of WalMart) can source a few containers of them from a Taiwan wholesaler, the New Zealand government doesn't see any reason to force other people to comply with whatever deal you made with Nike. If Nike wants to get mad at their Taiwan wholesaler, that's up to Nike.

I don't expect that the current situation is sustainable. Content providers who want to segment geographically are going to start leaning on Netflix to increase the barriers to folks outside the US using Netflix US. There's nothing they can do that cannot be circumvented, but anything that increases the fixed cost induces folks who need their grandkids to set their microwave clock to stick with Sky. I expect that some of Netflix's welcoming attitude towards foreign subscribers is to enhance their bargaining position in forcing that rights issues in dumb small markets like New Zealand get sorted out.

A few predictions:

• Video rental outlets will shift towards content enjoyed by those who cannot figure out how to set the time on their microwave oven clocks. 
• Sky will further emphasize live sport, making it even worse a deal for folks like me.
• I will not find any adequate explanation of what makes HBO distribution rights substantially different from Nike distribution rights. 

Previously:

• Copyright chilling effects
• Netflix and Fixed Costs

* Egads. Error entirely mine. I'm so used to it only being the Greens who like what I have to say on copyright, that I'd just started assuming that any MP hitting me on it was from the Greens.