Simplest Way to Watch Turkey including the BBC

Turkey is one of the most popular countries for the Briton who’s just looking for a little more sun in their life. Current statistics are a little unreliable about how many British are actually settled in Turkey but on Western and Southwestern coasts you’ll find many large UK communities in places like Antalya and Kalkan.  Many have settled there after enjoying years of great holidays, and the welcoming nature of the Turkish people. The cost of living is not as cheap as it once was, but the UK pound is still relatively strong against the Turkish lira.

There are of course some problems there, it can seem amazing that there was an attempted military coup only a few years ago. Yet, Turkey still feels very safe, and most ex-pat Britons I know have no intention of leaving this beautiful country. However, many still like to maintain links to the UK, and this is the subject of this article – How to Watch UK TV Online in Turkey written based on my own experiences using a program called NordVPN which is available here.

Watching English Channels in Turkey

I lived in Turkey for some time although not currently, there is some TV on Turkish television for the English only speaker but as much as somewhere as Spain. Lots of American movies and shows are subtitled into Turkish but remain with the English audio, others unfortunately have low grade dubbing! There are some English News available such as the Turkish Daily News site and also on Turkish Star TV. Occasionally you will get content from English channels on Turkish TV but they’re a little bit random. If you’re there for any length of time though, it’s advisable to learn the language or find a way to access UK Television.

Unfortunately, although there are plenty of online UK TV stations which broadcast online – normally these are inaccessible in Turkey. It’s because of a process called geo-targeting or blocking which involves restricting access based on your location. Usually for copyright reasons they limit access to their domestic market. It’s not just the UK stations that do this, it happens all around the world. Indeed, you can’t actually access Turkish TV in the UK either for the same reason.

There’s little doubt that unless you want to get involved in dodgy IPTV boxes or expensive cable deals which are often limited then the internet is the way to go. The simplest way is to access the original British TV channels over the internet on your laptop or computer. Once you’ve mastered this it’s simple to get cables to transfer to your TV or just watch directly on the device if you prefer. I personally was happy with access to the BBC and ITV on my laptop and PC, I never bothered with anything else.

BBC iPlayer on the Internet

This is the TV site most British people try to get access to first. It’s probably the most extensive TV streaming site on the internet and contains 11 live channels plus thousands of archived programmes. In general, most BBC programmes are available on demand for about a year after, although this is reduced significantly for things like sports and music shows with less restrictive rights. There are enough TV channels to cover all your TV needs, everything from news, current affair, comedy, music, documentaries and some of the best dramas on TV.

ITV Hub Online

This is the second largest TV company in the UK, and the largest commercial station. The streaming platform is known as ITV Hub and have live streaming channels which you can watch live plus an archive like the BBC. Not quite as big as the BBC but full of quality entertainment and a great news service which many actually prefer to the BBC. This is where you can watch Downton Abbey, Coronation Street, Love Island and some brilliant crime dramas too.

Other British TV Channels

There are actually quite a few other UK TV channels which broadcast online. The main free to air ones are Channel 4 (All 4) and Channel 5 (My5) both of which are accessible with a little effort. Like the others you’ll get blocked initially if you try and access from Turkey, but how to bypass this is explained int he next section. The other options include the large premium channels run by Sky, BT and Now TV. All of these require subscriptions but if you have one you can use the same techniques to access as for the others.

You should be careful about trying to pay for a subscription for one of these premium channels when you’re abroad. Although you can use the VPN method below to watch the channel, you’ll also need a UK based payment method to pay for it.

Watching UK TV in Turkey – the First Hurdle

The main issue with watching British TV stations outside the UK is something called geo-blocking. This refers to the common practice of blocking access to content on a web site based on your location.

All the UK TV stations broadcast online but none of them allow these to be watched from outside the United Kingdom. You can visit the BBC iPlayer site or the ITV Hub from Turkey but if you try and watch anything you’ll get a blocked message – something like this:

It’s not complicated, in this situation the BBC web site has checked your IP address when you connected and looked up its location in a country database. If you’re in Turkey, you’ll have a Turkish IP address and therefore will be blocked. It’s been like this as long as the BBC have been broadcasting online and is the same with Channel 4, 5 and ITV plus all the other UK media sites. If you just go to the standard BBC site from outside the UK, you’ll get quietly rerouted to the BBC International site which is basically just a news site without the live TV, radio and programme archive.

How to Bypass these Streaming Service Blocks

Over the years the options have varied slightly but basically there’s one core requirement – hide your real IP address and pretend you’ve got a British one. There were all sorts of ways of doing this in the past, even quite a few free options using things called online web proxies which relayed your connection through a UK based proxy.

Nowadays there are much fewer options, the BBC and the other UK stations have blocked access to these proxies so none of them now work. The same goes for all the generic ‘watch UK websites’ which you’ll still find littered around the internet, the vast majority of these are blocked (although they’ll happily take your money ’till you find out!). Although the method has not really changed, hiding your real location and relaying through another server, the ones that work are now much rarer.

The connection has to be secure using something called a VPN, otherwise it will be detected. Fortunately, there are still a few commercial services which still allow British TV channels in Turkey and here’s my preferred on in action:

NordVPN Latest Discount Page

 

How to Watch BBC iPlayer in Turkey

It’s called NordVPN and it is a sophisticated security program that is actually very easy to use. The software allows you access to its network of VPN servers across the world including hundreds in the United Kingdom. Simply connect to a British one BEFORE you visit any UK TV site, and you’ll appear to be in the UK. The websites cannot detect the presence of the server and will only see its UK IP address, so you are able to watch BBC TV in Turkey and your real computer address will be invisible.

Watch Any UK Streaming Site (including BBC iPlayer Turkey)

All the British TV sites like BBC iPlayer and ITV Hub will be fully functional, you can even download programs to watch offline.  It also works with commercial channels, but you’ll need the relevant subscription for watching Sky TV in Turkey. At the time of writing, both ITV and the BBC have started insisting you need to register for a user account.

Don’t worry just connect to a UK server first and register as normal, you’ll just need a valid UK postcode in the registration details. You also will be asked if you have a UK TV licence, you must say YES or nothing will work (again there’s no check).

Many VPNs are now blocked by both ITV and BBC so make sure you select one that works. If you choose NordVPN they have optimized some of their servers to work properly with the BBC, so make sure you use one of those

NordVPN BBC iPlayer Servers

If you choose NordVPN then you should use one of these servers when you watch the BBC or ITV. UK# 1840-1847, 1850-1863, 1865, 1869, 1873, 1875-1878, 1880-1881, 1900-1901, 1903-1904, 1911, 1913, 1917, 1919-1920.

These UK servers are optimized and monitored to ensure they’re not blocked by the BBC website.

Streaming Sites in Other Countries

This post is focused on accessing the major British media sites like BBC iPlayer from Turkey. However, it doesn’t need to stop there! The same technology is used by media sites across the planet, and you can use your VPN to access these too. You can use any of the servers in the list to access media sites in countries like the USA, Canada, Ireland and France for example which all use the same geo-blocking technology.

Most of the major VPN services have servers in the larger countries. If you want to watch something specific, then you should check beforehand. For example, if you want to watch Australian TV – check that your VPN service has Australian servers included in the standard subscription.

Access Turkish TV Channels in the UK ?

Yes, it’s possible to access the main Turkish TV stations online from the UK too. Again, you just need to ensure that the VPN service has servers available in Turkey, a few do and they’re usually based in Istanbul.

So, if you want some privacy or just want to watch the news on the BBC or TV across the world then a VPN is what you need.