SHOWTIME BANS MILLIONS OF IP’s – LEAVES THE REST OF THE WORLD OUT IN THE COLD – EVEN IF YOU ARE A SHOWTIME CUSTOMER!!

I purchased the Season 1 Box Set of Showtime’s show called “Weeds.” I loved the show and wanted to get information on Season 2.  Punching in www.sho.com into my browser brought up the following:

It would seem that showtime blocks all non US based Internet Addresses without reason. If you live in the US this may not seem like a threat to you but imagine if this trend continues with other websites. Imagine, if you will, sites such has Honda, Kawasaki, Sony, Panasonic,  not letting you look up information on their products because you lived in a foreign country.. This is a very disturbing web trend that needs to be destroyed.  The web is an international resource. Restricting to a specific country is not acceptable. I purchased their product and simply wanted information on the product I purchased. Does this not seem reasonable? I emailed them (after using a US web based anonymizer to find their address) and got the following responses. Here is a transcript of the emails

My initial email:

Customer (James *******)01/04/2007 02:14 AM Hello,
I would like to complain that the website www.sho.com will not show up from a Canadian IP. I've purchased shows from Showtime (DVD box sets) such as Weeds and was looking at information regarding to Season 2 only to be told that the website is only available to the US. Please fix this. It is very frustrating.  Auto-Response01/04/2007 02:14 AM Title: Weeds
Link: http://showtime.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/showtime.cfg/php/enduser/popup_adp.php?p_faqid=326&p_created=1131740097

Title: Brotherhood
Link: http://showtime.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/showtime.cfg/php/enduser/popup_adp.php?p_faqid=332&p_created=1147274097

Title: Huff
Link: http://showtime.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/showtime.cfg/php/enduser/popup_adp.php?p_faqid=335&p_created=1149006306

Their response:

My response:

 Customer (James *******)01/04/2007 05:43 PM Please read my first email. I never said I was watching Showtime on another channel. I said I had purchased a DVD boxed set of Season 1. Why, if I am purchasing a Showtime product such as a DVD box set, can I not get information on Showtime's website regarding the box set I purchased (or upcoming box sets)? I understand that Showtime has a contract for US distribution of it's show. You should, however, still provide information to your loyal customers who purchase your products ---- ie ME!!

Their final response:

Discussion Thread  Response (Tony)01/08/2007 02:10 PM