Sarah Hendrica Bickerton, writing for AppFactor:

Netflix New Zealand can’t broadcast House of Cards. That’s right, they can’t broadcast their OWN SHOW. The reason for this is that they had previously licensed distribution rights to one of the broadcast TV networks here. So because this network effectively owns it, they control how it is distributed. This gets to the core of the problem regarding international distribution rights.

International media companies will bid and win the option to show US television shows internationally. But, due to the way international media law works, that doesn’t guarantee you’ll be able to see it. If a multi-jurisdiction company owns the rights, but decides not to distribute it in your area, another company can’t show it, because legally the first company owns the rights for your area.

Yet another reason why we can’t have nice things.