Blockbuster presidents want an end to DVD region codes

(Hollywood Reporter) No less a personage than Nigel Travis, the president and COO of Blockbuster, is calling for the end of region coded DVDs (that annoying system which makes it difficult to play DVDs from other parts of the world on a DVD player here), saying they encourage piracy:

“The extra time on windows created by regional coding is an opportunity that pirates exploit.” Travis, the keynote speaker at the annual two-day Perspectives in European Video conference taking place here, cited “Finding Nemo,” which was released on video and DVD in the United States on Nov. 4 but will not be available in the United Kingdom until March 18. “That is a five-month gap and an obvious case where people are going to take advantage,” Travis said.

This isn’t “pirates exploiting opportunities,” it’s more like “customers routing around market-failures,” as when the product they demand isn’t offered for sale, or when they discover that they can buy the same product for half the money in a different part of the world.

Mystech: Hallejeuah Brother! Now if you have a few minutes to point out the analogy to the RIAA I’d be much obliged.