competition in nz at least

New ISP FYX caused a stir Tuesday by launching a service with a “global mode” – allowing Kiwis to access street-legal download services like the BBC's iPlayer and North America's Netflix, whose mother mode of movie and TV downloads is usually blocked to New Zealanders.

A concern expressed in comments after NBR ONLINE’s original story: were people signing up for a service that could get shut down by legal action from content creators, distributors or rights holders?

Here, Mr Schick said comments from Chapman Tripp to NBR ONLINE were consistent with the legal advice FYX had received.
That is you might break the commercial terms and conditions of a service by skirting its US-only internet restriction – but you’re not breaking US law.
So: you shouldn’t get the Copyright Tribunal breathing down your neck.
But you could get, say, Netflix kicking you off because it discovers you don’t live in the US.

They could. But they wouldn’t be squashing a pirate; they would be losing a paying customer.

FYX’s global mode is a first for New Zealand.

But is it a worldwide-first, as many offshore sites are labeling it? (Certainly, FYX's launch drew a lot of attention from Australian and US sites, judging by referral traffic to NBR ONLINE)

Mr Schick was unsure. He was unaware of a similar service, but then again there are tens of thousands of ISPs around the globe.

Chapman Tripp principal Justin Graham said he was not aware of any other ISP in the world that offered a global mode.
“I’m picking there’ll be others following suit in fairly short order though," he added.