My DVD player has been region 0 (i.e. region free) since the day I bought it, we bought it from a local richer sounds who were advertising that as a feature, as you said, the guy in the shop gave us a list of button presses to unlock it. Subsequently I told all my friends and acquaintances (tech savvy or not) to buy from that shop. I suspect that the iPlayer DRM will never bother me as I'll be among the first to get the cracked iPlayer client. Obviously I'll tell my friends and family to do the same, but it's those people without tech-savvy friends who will be inconvenienced the most.
I already get my TV DRM free, if I miss an episode of, say, Dr Who, I'll just grab the .torrent and watch the episode that someone recorded on their PVR. I've already payed for it via my licence fee, so have no guilt over this (note, I don't use Bit Torrent to download music or videos that I havn't payed for). So even if the iPlayer DRM is 100% perfect, I'll never personally be bothered because there's a huge digital DRM free hole between the transmitter and TV, but most ordinary people have never even heard of DRM, and it's them you'll be annoying most. When will media corporations realise that p***ing off their customers is not the best way to make money, and definitely not something a public service broadcaster should be doing. DRM doesn't serve the public in any way shape or form, the BBC should say to content producers give us licence to show your media DRM free, or we won't broadcast you, it shouldn't give in to their demands. Afterall, there are many companies that would pay to be on the BBC, you should exploit that position to promote free(libre) media.
