MovieChat Forums > H+ (2012) Discussion > Can it be watched anywhere except in the...

Can it be watched anywhere except in the U.S.?


Can you watch it in the UK? Or in any of the countries in which the series is set? At least for Germany I can testify that they made Youtube block the episodes. Seems the producers want to go all social but didn't understand the Internet. Tweeting a Finnish death certificate ... can people in Finland even watch?

Edit
I'm editing this post because I finally found out more about this. There's a Google Hangout that can be found on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKTtw_wVso8 at 1:14:26 and there are old Google+ comments by John Cabrera, one of the writers.

There's this comment where things are expressed as cryptically as in the YT video:


Hey there, I'm the second guy listed in the credits at the end of each episode, so perhaps I can shed some insight.  We are YouTube region restricted in 5 territories: Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Chile. The rest of the world can watch. The way many studio projects are financed is by selling the distribution rights in foreign markets. Without that money, most of the films we enjoy at the theater wouldn't have been made. Years ago, those foreign markets had to wait years to get the movies we were enjoying in the states, and that was because those markets were starting from scratch getting the films ready for showing there... which often times included finding the distribution itself. Today that rarely happens. Foreign markets are ready to go with the distribution of a film sometimes before Hollywood even, and so on occasion, foreign release dates will be weeks earlier.

Not the case with web series, though. Although it is borrowing this financing method from the movies, the web series is still a very new business, so those markets are going to take a little longer until they're ready for an H+ showing there. But someone owns those rights, and it's certainly in their best interest that those markets see the series. In fact, Chile is the first of those markets that can. The series is being distributed on VTR's website for Chilean audiences who have been blocked on YouTube. The other four will follow suit in some way soon, I promise.

And there is this comment where things are said a little more clearly:

it is geo-locked in 5 regions: Germany, Spain, France, Italy and Chile. The rest of the world can see it. That's because, like the film financing model, part of our budget comes from selling the distribution rights in foreign markets.

I think people immediately assume that geolocked means we don't want those markets to see it. On the contrary, someone owns the rights to show the series in those countries (and to at least see a small return on their investment) so they absolutely want those markets to see it. But setting up distribution in a foreign market is not easy. Germany, for example, is a country where dubbing is, in general, preferred to subtitles. That takes time to do. Consider, for example, the fact that we still haven't had a chance to get English YouTube subtitles into the series so that the foreign audiences who aren't blocked have a better comprehension of it. This is a large undertaking, and there are always gives and takes on these kinds of new endeavors. We are learning and adjusting as we go.

Chile is the first of those markets that can see the series (at vtr.com), and I assure you, the rest will eventually follow suit in some way.


So it seems Warner wants to make some extra money by selling the series to someone who will distribute it in Germany, Spain, France and Italy instead of Youtube.

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I've been able to watch it in Finland, doesn't seem to be blocked. I wasn't even aware that there were any restrictions, I thought it was freely available everywhere.

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One would think so for a web series ... unfortunately at least in Germany it is blocked and Youtube even ramped up their anti-anti-blocking strategy so all the plugins that used to unblock Youtube stopped working about two weeks ago. These plugins are indispensable in Germany because 90% of the videos containing music are blocked anyways for legal reasons. This is different though because it says: "The uploader has not made this video available in your country".

Thanks for the heads-up though. I'd love to know how they decided which countries to "air" in and which to exclude.

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You can grab the episodes from Usenet too in 480p, 720p, or 1080p quality.

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We've been watching it in New Zealand with no problems...

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If I only understood their choice of countries. I start wondering if they blocked it anywhere but in Germany. But then probably people who can't see the series in the first place don't find their way to the IMDB page I guess.

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It's been block in Italy also, god damn it because I did get to see the first episode as promo and I loved it as much as Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn (since both of them are directed by the same guy) but all others just doesn't play on YouTube, worse yet I can't seem to find them on any torrents distribution sites also :(

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Yeah, why share it via Bittorrent when it's freely available on Youtube ...

That H+ is blocked in Italy is extra-stupid since large parts of it play in Italy.

The only YT downloader I found that works is en.savefrom.net/user.php?helper=ff

Someone else suggested the Usenet but free binary servers seem to be really difficult to find.

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Well I live in Sicily and I still can't watch it, and how much does it matter if it's free but can't see it because it's blocked ?!? WTF !!!

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Uhm yeah, chill, that was my point. I was the guy who started the whole thread because it's blocked for me, too. That first sentence was meant to explain the mindset of someone who can see it. Try that FF add-on I mentioned. It still sucks that they block the series in some countries without even bothering to explain why.

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10q man, it really works. Can't wait to watch them all :D

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Perfectly watchable in Australia guys.

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Yeah. Our H+ network seems fine down here in Oz. Good reception, clear picture. Try taking a couple of steps to the right over there in Germany

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According to the channel comments, it's blocked in France and Spain, too. Still didn't find as much as a word on the reasons. Thinking in borders and ignoring tweets: this is not how you make yourself look cool in the Internet age.

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works in Estonia

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Go via proxy server - and gone is the "not available in Germany"-situation. Worked for me!
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Do it today, tomorrow it may be against the law ;-)

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Well, it's not so easy to find free proxies that are fast enough for video streaming. I posted a solution in this thread though. If you have a proxy that works, that's of course great.

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Really interesting insight into why the web gets *beep* in countries where tv still rules the world.

I managed to watch the webisodes online by using a clip downloader. Won't work with a service that's based in one of the countries that are blocked since they can't access the clips but http://www.clipconverter.cc/ worked for me. It's a workaround and it's a bitch but it bypasses the geo restriction on all the youtube videos that are blocked.

For every lie I unlearn I learn something new - Ani Difranco

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I can watch it freely from Greece without a proxy, that's a rare occasion..

Fanboy : a person who does not think while watching.

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