"Those who count on quote 'Hollywood' for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who's going to stand up for them when their job is at stake. Don't ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don't pay any attention to me when my job is at stake"

This is almost word for word a sentiment uttere by Bob Balaban's character on the West Wing. He played a high powered gay Hollywood producer (host of a planned fundrauiser for the President)  who told one of the West Wing staffers (Josh Lyman, I think) that there was a limit to how much procrastination and flip-flopping they would accept from the Democrats on gay rights issues before the money suplly would dry out.

Not a threat as much as a realistic statement. Politicians often promise action on issues when they want money and support, only to turn their backs on that commitment later. This is not a case of politicians being paid to change their vote. It is a case of politicians getting money and support because people agree with the policies they claim to support, and people getting upset when they learn that their issue has been bartered away.

I certainly wouldn't contribute to such a guy the second time.

The problem is that the bills are created as indiscriminate attack weapons that can be (and sometimes are) used to attack relatively harmless things like fair-use parodies and kids doing cover versions of their favourite songs. 

If they attacked only for-profit large scale piracy and illegal porn then I'd be okay with it. ( Some of the piracy peer-to-peer networks that people here in Europe at least use for new US TV shows also regrettably provide easy access to bestiality and child pornography. So regardless of the fact that they enable people in Europe to watch anything from Dexter to the Mentalist the day after the show airs in the US, it would not just probably but definitely be a public service if they burned those networks to the ground and salted the earth.  )

But it would also be nice if there were some legal means by which foreign fans could watch the newest episodes of TV shows online and pay for it.

I know that the restrictions where Europeans can't watch TV-shows on US TV-sites like Hulu are based on foreign rights sales.  The theory is that allowing Europeans to watch US TV online cuts into the value of foreign rights sales to European broadcasters and cable companies.

For people who speak english, the quick fix of watching it online instead of waiting weeks, months or years for the regional version to be broadcast is very appealing. And since people who are trendsetters in terms of TV- viewing in their social circles often don't mind watching undubbed and un-subtitled English language shows, the regional broadcast versions don't get that word-of-mouth boost and there is less "Buzz" around the shows that are now "old" before they start.

Regional broadcasters theoretically  lose out on marketing, on attractive viewership demographics and total viewer figures. And even to Tabloids who have a symbiotic relationship with Film and TV, the temptation to "spoil" shows in real time as "dramatic behind the scenes events" occur often ruins suspense for people. Some shows had carefully concealed events spoiled years before they're broadcast in particular countries. Partly because tabloid reporters watch the shows through illegal means to "keep up" with the gossip.

Basically, online viewing interferes with marketing and market value in foreign markets. At least theoretically.

As for regional DVD coding? That makes sense with some blockbusters that have high sales volumes, where a retailer may be tempted to import thousands of copies so they can sell for instance Mission Impossible 4 two weeks before they arrive in other stores. It makes absolutely no sense with DVDs that are barely viable to produce in the US, and where no-one would even suggest that it was worthwhile to make a separate product for other markets. If I want some onscure B-movie, it'll never be available in Region 2 coding.

But the film companies don't care about low-volume sales items.

Do they actually use region coding on DVD players over there? Because I usually buy cheap region-free DVD players Made in China. They cost about as much as a recently released DVD, no more.

And as I understand it, one of the reasons China has so much "pirated" stuff is that a lot of Western stuff gets manufactured there, so the official manufacturer often has a hand in the piracy as well. They might use cheaper material or techniques for the knock-offs, but they've got all the info they need to make the copies because the owners of the real thing handed it to them.

They certainly have all the manufacturing capacity they need, at any rate.