My latest hobby is answering rhetorical questions ... :-)
Usually because the US publisher has purchased the Audio Book rights for the US only and not for Worldwide, and so the author's agent has either sold the UK rights to a company that needs to get their fingers out, or hasn't sold the audiobook rights yet.
It would be contract breach for the US audiobook company to sell the audiobook internationally. The DRM may be in the contract from the Author's agent, or may just be the US company thinking they are both protecting their profits and also providing the legal enforcement to stop their audio books being sold to non-US customers.
no subject
Usually because the US publisher has purchased the Audio Book rights for the US only and not for Worldwide, and so the author's agent has either sold the UK rights to a company that needs to get their fingers out, or hasn't sold the audiobook rights yet.
It would be contract breach for the US audiobook company to sell the audiobook internationally. The DRM may be in the contract from the Author's agent, or may just be the US company thinking they are both protecting their profits and also providing the legal enforcement to stop their audio books being sold to non-US customers.
But you knew all that.