Len's News, Notes, and Stuff

Are There Any Legitimate Online Movie Services for Canadian Consumers?

Movie piracy is rampant.  Until local police agencies cracked down on pirated movie DVDs, the situation in asian malls was decidedly ridiculous.  Many of my friends download movies illegally and view them on their big-screen TVs via networked hard drives and media centres.  I’ve been told repeatedly that the popular asian YouTube equivalents offer movies for free because clearly something used by millions of people can’t be illegal.  Even my mother tells me her friends are downloading movies for free (and illegally), and has asked me how she can do it too.

I’ll admit that I haven’t always had clean hands in this regard, but for the last two years, I’ve been renting my movies or buying them.  I’m staying legit, because I know how much work goes into creating new content and can feel very viscerally how infuriating it feels to have others steal your work.

Unfortunately, I’m finding it incredibly difficult to use the Internet and stay legit.  Honestly, I’m sick and tired of going to the video store to rent a DVD and really want to be able to rent the movies online.  Pay a few bucks, then have it stream in for me to watch the movie.  I check the websites of services that allow American consumers to do this, and it costs less than what it costs me to trudge down to the local Blockbuster to borrow a physical copy that I have to return.

Convenience at lower cost: that’s what the Internet is supposed to enable.  Yet, here in Canada, it’s incredibly difficult and frustrating to take do that.  I’m literally on the verge of being laughed at by everyone else because I so adamantly want to stay legit and am having to be so inconvenienced and frustrated by it.

The we’ll-deliver-it-by-mail rental services are, by all accounts, unreliable and unsatisfactory.  The legitimate web-streaming rental services are for American consumers only, and based on my IP address, I am excluded from their services.  Blockbuster is a pain in the ass to use, and costs me more each year.

Something is very wrong with a movie industry that cries foul at all the piracy out there, and then makes it incredibly frustrating and difficult for people who want to pay them properly, and pay them money, to do the right thing.

Content is worth paying for.  I truly believe that.  If anyone knows of a good, legitimate source for movies online and that is available for Canadian consumers, please let me know.