Post by Willow on Jun 12, 2014 13:26:36 GMT 9.5
CONSUMER advocate Choice has demanded the removal of barriers to Australians getting cheaper overseas products after a fresh analysis found Australians are paying more for movie downloads, games and television series.
In a new assessment released yesterday, the group says Australians are paying 39 per cent more than people in the US to download the top 10 movies in Apple’s iTunes store and 33 per cent more for PlayStation 4 video games.
While Game of Thrones fans pay $50 a month for a subscription on Foxtel’s internet-based service, Now TV in Britain has a monthly subscription cost of £4.99 ($8.95).
The group did the analysis as part of a submission to the Coalition’s competition policy review, where it urges the removal of barriers that restrict consumers accessing “competitively priced” overseas goods.
Choice chief executive Alan Kirkland said that digital technologies could benefit consumers.
“But Australians face many barriers to accessing these benefits, whether it’s outdated laws that prop up entertainment monopolies or the ‘geo-blocking’ on overseas websites that recognise a consumer is from Australia and either blocks them altogether or applies a specially marked-up price,” Mr Kirkland said.
Choice also wants the scrapping of all restrictions on parallel imports (identical overseas products) in copyright law.
Apple declined to comment yesterday, although it has previously said that pricing on iTunes is heavily influenced by the wholesale price set by labels and studios, royalties, and local taxes.
Apple told the parliamentary review local-market price comparisons showed iTunes prices “for the same product sold in the local market are competitive”.
A Foxtel spokesman said yesterday “finding one example of different pricing of Game of Thrones demonstrates the opposite of the point Choice claims to be making”.
“If geographic licensing inevitably led to unfair pricing, why would HBO allow the show to be purchased more cheaply in the UK than in the US? Clearly commercial issues, market structure and product differences are at play here,” the spokesman said.
A spokesman for Small Business Minister Bruce Billson said “given we have an independent review of competition under way, it would be inappropriate to pre-empt the work of the … panel”.
The Choice survey was based on prices checked between May 28 and June 6, with the percentage differences based on the Australian dollar trading at US90.99c.
In a new assessment released yesterday, the group says Australians are paying 39 per cent more than people in the US to download the top 10 movies in Apple’s iTunes store and 33 per cent more for PlayStation 4 video games.
While Game of Thrones fans pay $50 a month for a subscription on Foxtel’s internet-based service, Now TV in Britain has a monthly subscription cost of £4.99 ($8.95).
The group did the analysis as part of a submission to the Coalition’s competition policy review, where it urges the removal of barriers that restrict consumers accessing “competitively priced” overseas goods.
Choice chief executive Alan Kirkland said that digital technologies could benefit consumers.
“But Australians face many barriers to accessing these benefits, whether it’s outdated laws that prop up entertainment monopolies or the ‘geo-blocking’ on overseas websites that recognise a consumer is from Australia and either blocks them altogether or applies a specially marked-up price,” Mr Kirkland said.
Choice also wants the scrapping of all restrictions on parallel imports (identical overseas products) in copyright law.
Apple declined to comment yesterday, although it has previously said that pricing on iTunes is heavily influenced by the wholesale price set by labels and studios, royalties, and local taxes.
Apple told the parliamentary review local-market price comparisons showed iTunes prices “for the same product sold in the local market are competitive”.
A Foxtel spokesman said yesterday “finding one example of different pricing of Game of Thrones demonstrates the opposite of the point Choice claims to be making”.
“If geographic licensing inevitably led to unfair pricing, why would HBO allow the show to be purchased more cheaply in the UK than in the US? Clearly commercial issues, market structure and product differences are at play here,” the spokesman said.
A spokesman for Small Business Minister Bruce Billson said “given we have an independent review of competition under way, it would be inappropriate to pre-empt the work of the … panel”.
The Choice survey was based on prices checked between May 28 and June 6, with the percentage differences based on the Australian dollar trading at US90.99c.