France to Ban US DVD Sales to...

[chlngr1970]

Keep people from getting them on DVD before they hit the theaters over there. The full story can be read below.

France Bans Sale Of U.S. DVD's Prior To Film Debuts


In what some critics described as a doomed effort to protect French movie theaters, France's Culture Minister, Catherine Tasca, on Tuesday barred the sale of U.S. movies on DVDs before the movies are shown in theaters. Although DVDs of movies contain regional codes that prevent them from being played before a certain release date in various areas of the world, DVD players can easily be modified to defeat the codes, and indeed many retailers in France and elsewhere feature ads for "region-free" or "multi-zone" players. Critics of the new government decree noted that the effect of the law will be to cause DVD owners to buy the discs from retailers outside the country. The French daily Liberation editorialized Tuesday that the measure was like France's Maginot Line, the ill-fated line of fortifications that the country erected on its border with Germany prior to World War II. (The Germans simply went around it.)

Interesting that a government is getting involved in the whole regional DVD thing.

j


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[Dominik Pfleghaar]

The French were always a bit special... they also have a law that forbids the use of english terms in speeches and such

Anyway, there's still the internet if you live in "La grande nation" and you wanna get some Code 1 dvd's.

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Unca Dom
dvdfile.com Administrator
pfleghaar@dvdfile.com
My HT My dvd collection

[vinzi]

Exactly....I think German legislation also prevents retailers from selling Reg 1 DVDs over there. But nobody can prohibit the people ordering on the Internet, can they?



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Vinzi.
Actresses rescued, directors slain.
Have portable player, will work for food.
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[chlngr1970]

Well, you are partly right. The government can impose strict import regulation banning the import of such DVD's. I doubt it will come to that, but anything is possible.

j

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Co-Moderator of the software forum.
"No matter how far you travel or how much you will see, never will there be a sunrise with the colors in her hair, never will the stars come close the the light in her eyes, never will the warm summer breeze bring greater joy than that of her smile."
- Sébastien Larocque
My DVD Tracker page
Click Here to help get Say Anything on DVD!

[mahavishnu]

That would cost loads to regulate, and would simply perpetuate piracy.

[Seckin]

I am living in Turkey and here, they sell region 2 discs and there are retailers of region 1 dvds but they are so so so expensive. It varies from 35 to 50 bucks whether you get The Matrix or the Princess Bride. They sell Criterion or double disc features for even more..So what we do is to order from Internet anyway. I have a couple of French friends and they also do the same thing because Region 1's are expensive there too. One more thing: The Government of Turkey passed a precedent saying that you can only pass 8 dvds (not for commerce, for private use) from the customs a month..

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seckin