Courtesy of Apple

Perhaps the title of this article is misleading a little. The real question is why are extended trailers for movies, known as the sneak peaks only available for US users of the iTunes service? The most recent example of this is how iTunes has just had added a 7 minute, 100MB long trailer added for the upcoming movie Get Smart starring Anne Hathaway.

The catch is while you can watch it if you have a US iTunes account if you are anywhere else in the world or don’t have a US credit card you’re out of luck. Considering it’s a promotional piece to make people want to watch the movie and the movie comes out all over the world and not just the US it makes no sense to have regional barriers in place stopping other people watching the video when it could lead to additional revenue.

There are other items such as free tracks from bands to promote their upcoming albums which are also banned for non-US users and then there are free episodes of television shows from the major US networks also included which are blocked to outside users. The question remains why would you add a regional block to an advert for something which is to be sold in all countries. Perhaps this shows just how paranoid about legal restrictions the film companies are now becoming and the entertainment industry as a whole.

What does this mean for you? If you’re in the US not a thing. If you’re outside the US a whole load of problems and steam coming from your ears after being short changed.