Now, this finely tuned money-maximizing effort has been spoiled by various countries, including most of the European Union countries, that consider it to be perfectly legal to sell hacked DVD players that allow playing movies from all the regions -- and this practice is legal and therefor virtually every single DVD player sold in, for example, the United Kingdom -- even when bought with manufacturer's warranty from a high street store -- is already region free.
Travis told about this in his keynote speech in European Video conference in France and cited highly popular Finding Nemo as a perfect example: the movie was released on DVD in States in November, but wont be available on DVD in the UK until March 2004. "Pirates take advantage of this and can drive the proverbial cart and horses through these holes in the release schedule, and the loss of revenue hurts us all--studios, distribution and retailers," Travis said.
Source: Video Business Online (requires registration)