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**scarimor** · 17 May 2007, 03:31 AM

Originally posted by Agent_Dark View Post

Use a proxy to spoof your IP to a US/whatever country is cheapest IP

I was studiously staying off that subject

You know, if they were running something whereby they lowered their prices significantly for a developing country, e.g. India, to bring them more in line with the standard of living/costs there, I really wouldn't be worried. And I wouldn't "cheat" and go through a proxy to get the low rate. But that is not an argument to be made for subsidising North American subscribers at the expense of Aussies/Kiwis/Pommes.

I have to agree, that I'm less than thrilled about the way they've gone about pricing. This is the Internet were talking about - why do geographical issues need to apply here? It's not a technical issue so it shouldn't have even been brought up.

I'm guessing they just copied an existing model (iTunes) and didn't think through its implications

**Agent_Dark** · 17 May 2007, 03:41 AM

Originally posted by scarimor View Post

I was studiously staying off that subject

Well they gotta realise that they can shoot themselves in the foot if they're not careful. It's not exactly rocket science to use a proxy and they're far from having market dominance like iTunes does. They need to make things as incentive as possible otherwise they aren't going to be able to compete. Charging higher prices because you live on the other side of the world isn't exactly incentive.

**meredithchandler73** · 17 May 2007, 04:33 AM

Okay, it took me a dozen viewings of the first webisode to notice that the coroner in the morgue was Ellie Harvie (Dr. Novak on Stargate a.k.a. the one with the hiccups)! What's even crazier is that I've specifically watched that particular scene SO many times just for the little bit of dialogue! It was probably posted here already (I just noticed it was in the Sam thread), but I just haven't been able to keep up with all the posts!

Other things I noticed in further viewings and some speculations:

Spoiler:

ETA: Also - I totally love Amanda's greeting to the Sanctuary fans (the short welcome at the Sanctuary fansite).

**Purpleyin** · 17 May 2007, 04:36 AM

Originally posted by RealmOfX View Post

Thanks for the feedback on prices everyone. I thought there was something weird going on! Hmmmmm Aussies pay 140% and UKers pay 200%, so that's another thing they need to fix.

200% more than US? Wow. Might just be me but I thought £6.50 for the 4 ep bundle was pretty cheap when I thought that was for the HD one and not that I can see how much more the HD one would be but presumably it isn't much more so I'm not too bothered overall.

If the length varies it's easy to imagine it'll be comparative to about a (short) films length and paying £7ish for that in DRM free HD seems alright, though I'd hope prices might even out/go down once the show has attracted a decent audience and is in a financially better position to continue on.

**SG13-NightOps** · 17 May 2007, 04:37 AM

On this pricing thing - after looking at it, I can only assess that the australian ecomony is far stronger than the US, despite the fact that it does not show in dollar value. If demographically, we can afford over a dollar more in australian than the americans can, it makes for some interesting questions on the state of the Aussie dollar.

However, in this instance, it came down to one question to me. Not do I agree with their idea, not do I feel ripped off. no. The question was "Is this show worth AUD$4.19 to me. Only I am in control about how I feel. Their actions cannot dictate my mood to me, and if they feel its worth $4.19 to me, I only have to ask myself, do I agree or not.

I believe it is.

**NZNeep** · 17 May 2007, 04:57 AM

Originally posted by meredithchandler73 View Post

Okay, it took me a dozen viewings of the first webisode to notice that the coroner in the morgue was Ellie Harvie (Dr. Novak on Stargate a.k.a. the one with the hiccups)! What's even crazier is that I've specifically watched that particular scene SO many times just for the little bit of dialogue! It was probably posted here already (I just noticed it was in the Sam thread), but I just haven't been able to keep up with all the posts!

Other things I noticed in further viewings and some speculations:

Spoiler:

I noticed Ellie straight away. Just before the morgue scene, my mind must have wandered because I was thinking about how a quite a few Stargate actors appear, and wondering who we will see in the future. Then I thought, "oh, I wonder if Novak will ever be in it? I love her!" *cut to morgue scene* Hehe, that even looks a bit like her. Wait a minute... I had to rewatch because I was so sure I was just seeing her because the suggestion was already in my mind

About Helen's hair...

Spoiler:

About the boy...

Spoiler:

**ForeverSg1** · 17 May 2007, 05:56 AM

Originally posted by the dancer of spaz View Post

I totally see where both you and Trace are coming from. And I do hope that the pricing scheme is evened out once they "break even" - or whatever goal they have in mind for these first four eps. But I don't blame them for needing to adhere to an admittedly corporate-esque bottomline in the beginning... to an extent. In a perfect world, DK and Co. could do what they want with this series for even less than they've already put into it, charge us all half the current cost, and still make a decent living off of it while doing what they love.

I don't know all that much about the industry they're dealing with, but when I read the figures, I was floored. There's a lot of money at stake there.

Personally, I wouldn't mind paying more for the episodes if it evened things out among all of the countries, but I know that not everyone feels the same way. I figure, I don't consume a lot of network television because a lot of it is meh. And I haven't gone to the movies nearly as much as I used to because the prices are beyond insane, with ads to boot (yet I can't bring myself to watch those same movies online for free, because I *heart* the quality of the big screen, and I really don't dig the illegal downloading bit).

So, I'm cool with paying more for the quality, the content, the usage/legal allowances, and the principles behind this product, if it means (a) I'm watching something I actually enjoy, and (b) we get even more of it in the future.

But, again, I know not everyone is like that. And for good reasons. Hopefully the next four episodes will be more equitably priced.

This is my take on it. According to a recent interview, they have reportedly sank $4 million dollars into the 2-hr pilot.

4,000,000 / 8 = $500,000

That means each 15-min webisode costs them roughly $500,000 before they can even start looking at any profit or money to toss back into the production schedule.

Which means one of the following sitatutions needs to occur...

500,000/1.99 = 251,256 SD copies per webisode OR

500,000/2.49 = 200,803 HD copies per webisode OR

2,000,000/6.99 = 286,123 SD copies of each bundle pack OR

2,000,000/8.75 = 228,571 HD bundles of each bundle pack

need to be sold here in the US and abroad.

I guess I just don't understand why anyone would want to offend any of there potential customers by inflating the prices for a select group of viewers. I know I-tunes does it, but I-tunes isn't trying to build a community. They aren't creating forums for their buyers to sit and discuss what they have viewed. This is the internet and sci-fi community we are talking about. Surely, they didn't believe that this little discrepancy in pricing would go unnoticed? I suppose in part I can understand why they increased the pricing for certain countries slightly, but I think doubling the price like the UK was a bit extreme. As much as I want to be a part of this new endeavor, I'm not sure I would jump on the bandwagon if I felt I were being price gouged.

Placed in spoils because it's OT and I thought I was posting in another thread.

Spoiler:

It's all a matter of economics, sure but no one wants to feel like they are being over charged for something and paying double for everything is definitely one way to turn off consumers in my opinion.

**Tracy Jane** · 17 May 2007, 06:44 AM

I agree with Kat, I don't believe for a minute that they didn't think we'd work it out. I was rather horrified by Damian's comment on his blog to the sum of "I didn't expect you to figure it out so quickly". So what? They were going to keep the differentiated prices til someone figured it out, then change them? That seems incredibly dishonest to me. Actually, I figured it was all some sort of mistake with conversions that didn't work until I read Damian's blog and realised it was deliberate.

To be perfectly honest, there's no way I can afford Sanctuary at UK prices. I was lucky this time in that it defaulted to US, but if I have to pay the £8 per bundle or whatever it was.... £8 used to be my weekly shopping bill as an undergrad!

It is, unfortunately, inevitable that an underground, illegal community will develop, in fact, it seems that it is already forming. But stunts like this are only going to encourage it.

**scarimor** · 17 May 2007, 07:22 AM

Originally posted by ForeverSg1 View Post

... It's all a matter of economics, sure but no one wants to feel like they are being over charged for something and paying double for everything is definitely one way to turn off consumers in my opinion.

Yep. To take your AT3 example, the equivalent would be the Gabit crew charging US constomers double the price as they registered and paid from a US location. They can't be blamed for the exchange rate - that's out of their hands, and they don't make any more themselves from it. But the Sanctuary folk are charging customers different rates off the bat.

Basicly, if they think the episode bundle is worth the sum they're charging North American customers (the most affluent market there is), then that's what it's worth, and anyone who has to pay above that will feel cheated.

Originally posted by Tracy Jane View Post

I agree with Kat, I don't believe for a minute that they didn't think we'd work it out. I was rather horrified by Damian's comment on his blog to the sum of "I didn't expect you to figure it out so quickly". So what? They were going to keep the differentiated prices til someone figured it out, then change them? That seems incredibly dishonest to me. Actually, I figured it was all some sort of mistake with conversions that didn't work until I read Damian's blog and realised it was deliberate.

To be perfectly honest, there's no way I can afford Sanctuary at UK prices. I was lucky this time in that it defaulted to US, but if I have to pay the £8 per bundle or whatever it was.... £8 used to be my weekly shopping bill as an undergrad!

It is, unfortunately, inevitable that an underground, illegal community will develop, in fact, it seems that it is already forming. But stunts like this are only going to encourage it.

Yep. It's there. The HD version of ep one is available to illegally download, and if they pursue this model of price-fixing they will lose goodwill and pay the price.

**RepliCartertje** · 17 May 2007, 07:25 AM

Originally posted by Agent_Dark View Post

Use a proxy to spoof your IP to a US/whatever country is cheapest IP

I have to agree, that I'm less than thrilled about the way they've gone about pricing. This is the Internet were talking about - why do geographical issues need to apply here? It's not a technical issue so it shouldn't have even been brought up.

See, I don't like the idea of this whole IP adress, i think they need our full support, but in a way they brought it up to themself... like others said, they knew the fans would figure it out, and talk about it...and feel upset about it. But I think that was their plan in a way, to have more promotion going around. Not sure if it is a good way though. But a lot of us are talking about the price so...
I do hop they reconsider the price and let everyone pay the same, no matter where you live, but I don't think they will do that...It seems like they made up their mind, and that the price is like they do it on Itunes...For every region another price, what of course will keep people agrivated, and looking for other solutions...

Originally posted by Tracy Jane View Post

It is, unfortunately, inevitable that an underground, illegal community will develop, in fact, it seems that it is already forming. But stunts like this are only going to encourage it.

I think you are right about this, I think a lot of people will get upset and will not like this whole diversity, and going to try things to not have this anymore... And can you blame them?? That soley because you don't live in the USA you have to pay more??

**Strix varia** · 17 May 2007, 08:08 AM

If I lived in Australia or the UK I think I'd be pretty steamed about the pricing issue. And actually, I'm a bit indignant on their behalf as it is.

While I can sort of understand the logic in adopting a successful existing business model from someone like iTunes, Trace has a very good point about it flying directly in the face of what they're trying to accomplish, which is build an international community dedicated to this show. You don't build unity and community by separating groups out at the very start and subjecting them to a different standard. It's not a level playing field, and they should have known it would create hard feelings.

My guess is that they decided on the business model and didn't give it much more thought after that, focusing, perhaps, on other aspects of the production, or maybe just hoping for the best with misplaced optimism. I can't believe that they really believed noone would notice (and/or care if they did). That's just silly; money always matters, even to hardcore fans. And surely they know by now that we're an international community already, and we're not exactly all oblivious idiots (of course, if they didn't before, they do now!). The internet makes the world a small place. If that is the case, it is definitely indicative of naivete on their part, and it's not an entirely flattering reflection of their opinion of their fans. That would make me very sad because so far I have been totally floored by their fan-friendliness.

I hope they will correct the situation for the next release.

All that said; I was very impressed by the webisode. I actually got my partner to watch it with me, and she enjoyed it, too. We don't usually watch the same programs together, so I think it has wide appeal, which is promising for its continued success.

**JuliaR** · 17 May 2007, 08:11 AM

Originally posted by Tracy Jane View Post

Actually, I figured it was all some sort of mistake with conversions that didn't work until I read Damian's blog and realised it was deliberate.

You know something, having read the blog I'm just really really hurt.

Hurt that we in the UK are considered *able* to pay double the cost to the US and Canada.

The cost of living in London and elsewhere in the UK is extremely high. Disposable cash is short for a lot of people in the UK. I guess I don't understand why we've been penalised just because another company had that penalty as its model. And it's not just the price of the webisodes it's all the merchandise as well. I don't get it. If I buy a book on Amazon.com I don't get charged double because I'm a UK customer I just get charged the right postage extra. It doesn't cost double to make the item because it is going to the UK.

I said that I'm prepared to pay whatever they want me to pay because Sanctuary is worth every penny. I meant it. I love and support the show. There will be a huge UK fanbase waiting to buy this show and embrace it and support it. There already is. I'll go on buying into it even if we're penalised for being on our tiny island because I believe in it.

But this is unfair and it hurts.

I'm going to trust the great team at Sanctuary to see that it's wrong and amend it for future bundles and merchandise.

For now I'm just sad.

Julia
G4

**dipsofjazz** · 17 May 2007, 08:18 AM

I agree Julia. I am also sad and very disappointed about this discrimination.

They wanted to bring us all together as one community but straight away they unfairly break us up into geographical groups. I feel betrayed.

**scarimor** · 17 May 2007, 08:18 AM

Originally posted by JuliaR View Post

You know something, having read the blog I'm just really really hurt.

Hurt that we in the UK are considered *able* to pay double the cost to the US and Canada.

It's an entirely cynical business model, loathed and despised by consumer groups. When the car industry did it they used to call the UK "Treasure Island". But UK customers cottoned on and took action to avoid the cyncial geographical price hikes, and the price-fixing had to give a lot.

I'm gobsmacked that they chose to adopt this cynical, anti-consumer model, given the sounds to the contrary that have come from them so far. How they reconcile this with their pro-consumer rhetoric boggles the mind.

I really hope they change their minds. I was so keen to support this show, and I still am, but there's no way I'll support an enterprise that pursues this practise.

**Trek_Girl42** · 17 May 2007, 08:34 AM

With all this talk about price differential, does anyone know how much Sanctuary costs for residents in Canada? (in Canadian dollars)

My computer is having issues, so I can't check the site.

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