For sometime I have been pondering...

Just what do I get for my Hyperspace membership?

Today in my inbox I received the latest Star Wars Homing Beacon, number 246, and contained within the message of this Homing Beacon email was a polite invitation for me to watch the first two episodes of The Clone Wars animated series. So i duly clicked on the embedded link in the expectation of being able to watch Ambush and Rising Malevolence.
With exciting intrepidation I waited for the obligatory advertisement to finish and settled down to watch Ambush. Imagine my dismay upon hearing the immortal words "the content you are trying to view is only available in certain areas".
Oh yes! as a non-US resident I am banned from viewing this material until, at least, it has been screened by one of my own native television networks - but, only after they have charged me extra for the courtesy.

However I am a fully paid member of Hyperspace, in fact I have been since it first launched several years ago, and I distinctly remember that when the first animated Clone Wars series was being aired, Hyperspace membership included the online viewing of this material - albeit in a small Quicktime window via a 56k modem
Since renewing my membership early this year I haven't exactly had a whole lot for my pound/buck - a few short stories and... you know I can't recall anything else that is exclusive to Hyperspace members, even the exclusive and fairly regular Hyperspace emails, I can't even for the life of me remember what they were called (it's been that long since I've received one!), have dried up.

Now, I am annoyed for two reasons. The first is a matter of courtesy on the behalf of StarWars.com as nowhere in the Homing Beacon message did it mention anything about territory restrictions to the viewing of this material.

The second is what exactly is my Hyperspace membership worth? Only a few short stories? Oh! and some downloadable fan club cards that *I* have to print off !!

It is quite clear to me now that the value of Hyperspace membership has unfortunately diminished within the last couple of years, from the highlights of regular publication of short stories, webstrips, and other exclusive material including articles, behind the scenes photos and web-docs, etc and of course, Clone Wars cartoon to what I am entitled to this year and my *free* downloadable fan club cards.

17th October: just received Homing Beacon #247 and it says: "If you missed the last two episodes on TV, you can watch the new animated Star Wars TV series right now at Star Wars.com!" Again nowhere on the email does it state that this online content is not available outside the US!