How rights are sold by territory
A rights holder earns most by selling a title separately in each market, often to a different buyer in each. One service might hold a film for India, another for the United Kingdom, and a third for Latin America, each for its own term and price.
The result is that a service operating in several countries has a different catalog in each, even though the apps are identical.
What a service has to do
- Record the licensed territories for every title, with start and end dates
- Show each viewer only the titles available where they are
- Block playback outside the licensed territories, including through known VPNs where the license demands it
- Apply the same rule to downloads and to casting
- Report viewing and revenue per territory to the rights holder
Worldwide and other scopes
Content you produce yourself is the exception: you hold it everywhere unless you have sold some territories to someone else.
- Worldwide: every country, the simplest to operate and the most expensive to buy
- Regional: a named group of countries
- Language-based: the right to a particular dubbed or subtitled version
- Exclusive or non-exclusive within the territory
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