[Music/TV] Localization - Why does it exist?

[Nekhetyo]

So yeah. I'm very annoyed by the general localization of consumer media like music and television. Why does stuff air in the US six months before it airs in the rest of the world? Say I wanna watch an episode of House, or Glee, or any other show on a US network. I can't because the newest seasons doesn't air here in Europe for at least six months. I remember The Big Bang Theory being finished for a couple of weeks last spring but season 4 was still airing here in Norway. Why can't everything be broadcast at roughly the same time? Same goes with music. Rihannas Talk That Talk is out in some European countries on iTunes but not in the US, UK and several other countries. Come on it's 2011... This is not what we expect in this modern digital age.

If the networks/recording companies can't broadcast on the TV internationally/sell records, then at least let Apple remove TV localization on iTunes. We only JUST got movies available. Same goes for Netflix, Hulu and everything else that's online.

Is it a legal matter? Are "licenses to broadcast" that difficult to get? I honestly can't see it being that much of an issue.

[Fuzzzie]

It's up to who distributes it in your country.

[Nekhetyo]

It's up to who distributes it in your country.

Why the hell would they wait, though? Don't they know that most people would rather pirate it than wait six months for a new season to start?

[Fuzzzie]

An overseas station might not want to pay for a series unless they know that it's successful first. It also may not be available because of agreements made between the shows production and the originating network. For example, if a show uses product placement a stipulation may be that it must air locally for x amount of time before being made available to other markets.

[Skizzit]

Legal distribution rights. Every country has different laws on what can be released there and companies have to pay different fees for every country/region they want to release something in. This leads to delays where it sometimes takes longer to get the rights to something or like Fuzzzie said, companies do not want to pay more for something to be released that may not be popular so they will wait to see how it does in a limited release and then pay for a wider release if it does well.

[Skippy88]

There was a really good article which breaks down why this happens but I can't find it for the life of me. From what I **vaguely** remember there are a few different reasons including:

- Local TV buying the show per season instead of per episode so they have to wait until the season is done before they can buy it and air it.
- Local Censors have to approve it first which causes delays.
- Various other reasons as stated above.

If I were you I would phone your local station to find the exact reason and maybe get them to speed up the process. I feel sorry for you. I've heard the horror stories.

However, could you not view them online? You may have to do some digging but you should be able to find them.