China has stopped importing American DVDs for the same reason you’ve stopped buying them at Target: it’s way easier and cheaper to get pirated copies on the Internet. And Hollywood’s mad about it.
While piracy has always been a problem with China, the MPAA is really up in arms about China denying or losing import requests from the studios. Normally, they’re limited to 20 a year, a low enough number. Now those 20 aren’t even happening, yet people in China are still watching new DVDs, which means it must be piracy.
The Chinese government is denying an official ban, yet it appears to be in place. With this and the writer’s strike going on, I’m glad I don’t work in Hollywood anymore, man.
China Bans American Movie Sales; MPAA’s Glickman Responds [Daily Tech]
Despite that fact that it’s only Hollywood I feel like this would be breaking tons of WTO regulations. Imposing bans or tariffs is very strictly regulated business because it can lead to economic wars between nations which in turn is bad for every country’s economy.