How to get Live UK TV Everywhere Using a VPN

This article will explain how to get access to literally thousands of UK Television programmes both live and on demand from anywhere in the world. If you don’t want to read all the explanation then just check this

HERE’S THE SIMPLE STEPS TO ENJOY BRITISH TELEVISION EVERYWHERE

• Choose a Fast VPN with UK Based servers – E.g. NordVPN
• Install the Software on Each Device You want to Use
• Fire up the Program and Choose a UK Server (for NordVPN Use the Special TV ones below)
• Login Using Your Free Account (Just create one if you need)
• Enjoy the BBC , ITV Hub and all UK TV channels etc exactly like you would from the UK.

Why Can’t You Watch UK TV Everywhere ?

You’d think that the internet is completely open and accessible to anyone. However for a variety of reasons this is not really true in 2022. Slowly and surely the internet is being blocked, filtered and restricted to people often simply based on where they happen to be. It didn’t really happen in the early years, if it was online you could access it and your location was largely immaterial. Sure, some had faster internet or better computers but there was no real discrimination.

Nowadays millions of websites look up your location as a matter of routine, many others use this to control what you can see – it’s often referred to as geo-blocking or targeting.

Geo-blocking is a method of restricting access to digital content by country, region or other regions. It is a common practice among large corporations to prevent people from accessing their content in certain countries and regions. Sometimes you’ll get different content or even offered different prices depending on where you are located.

Probably among the biggest users of this technology are the TV and media firms who broadcast content across the web. The reason is largely to do with having the right license to stream shows in specific countries. Amazingly this is still largely done on a geographical basis which makes it difficult to stream to different countries. It’s also a lot to do with making money though – selling DVDs and BluRays around the world.

So You Can’t Watch UK TV Channels Outside the UK ?

Every one of the UK’s main TV channels restricts access to the domestic market. The minute you step outside the UK and go online none of the main TV sites like BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub and All 4 work anymore. It doesn’t matter if you own a UK TV licence and have lived there all your life.  It doesn’t matter if you’re close maybe across the border in Ireland – if you’re outside the UK then you’ll be blocked.

Here’s the sort of error message or warning you’ll receive when you try and connect.

 

Sometimes you’ll get an explanation, other times just a simple error message like this. Ultimately it’s the same reason, your location is stopping you get access.

It’s frustrating especially when travelling and even worse when you’re in a country where you can’t speak the language (and therefore understand the local TV). The technology works by checking your IP address which is assigned and controlled by how you are connecting to the internet.

Of course, you’ll probably know that millions of people do manage to watch from abroad. In fact a huge proportion of ex-pats have discovered the secret to enjoying British TV channels anywhere – it’s called a VPN (Virtual Private Network).

How to Watch UK TV Channels on a VPN?

It’s actually much simpler than it sounds, and doesn’t take any real technical knowledge. If you watch this video you’ll see how straight forward it is. What’s more if you choose the right VPN it can open up access to all sorts of brilliant web sites all over the world (including being able to watch UK TV anywhere!)

Not too difficult it is, the VPN demonstrated above is called NordVPN. It’s one of the biggest VPN services in the world and surprisingly good value too. It’s also ensures a series of servers specifically for accessing UK TV sites make sure you use these if you use NordVPN. Here’s the servers you should choose if you want trouble free access to sites like BBC iPlayer and ITV Hub – UK# 1840-1847, 1850-1863, 1865, 1869, 1873, 1875-1878, 1880-1881, 1900-1901, 1903-1904, 1911, 1913, 1917, 1919-1920.

Why Do You Need a VPN for This?

Well the reason you need to use a VPN is because it’s the simplest way to hide your true location when you’re online. Geo-blocking works by checking your IP address when you connect and using it to work out where you are. There’s no way to change this IP address as it’s assigned automatically when you connect to the internet. What’s more without this address you won’t be able to access anything online at all.

You can use the VPN to act as a middle man forwarding information and requests on your behalf. The website never sees your real location only where the VPN server itself is located. If you connect to a UK VPN server then it will look like you’re in the United Kingdom – so all UK TV sites will work perfectly.

When you disconnect the VPN server you’ll stop hiding and your true location/IP address will be visible. So you’ll be able to watch these UK TV channels everywhere as long as you remember to connect to a UK VPN first.

The new generation of VPN services offer hundreds of servers spread all over the world. This gives you even more control over your online privacy and the ability to unblock sites in lots of countries all over the internet. So for example if you were in France and wanted to watch Canadian TV you’d connect to one of the VPNs in Canada. Want to listen to the US only music channel Pandora ? Simple just select a US VPN server instead and so on.

What are the Best VPNs for Watching TV?

If you start looking at VPNs you’ll probably be surprised by the amount available. The demand for VPNs has skyrocketed in the last few years. Obviously online security and privacy is a large driver but the ability to sidestep all these geo-blocks is probably the major one. When you consider that you can gain access to dozens of high quality TV channels streaming live 24/7 through a couple of UK TV sites then it’s not hard to see the attraction.

So which of these VPN services should you choose? Is there actually any different or is it just a matter of picking the cheapest and trying those out? In reality there not all the same and in fact many of the VPN services are pretty useless for watching UK television from anywhere.

Here’s some things to consider –

VPN Speed for Watching TV

Streaming high quality video uses lots of bandwidth. If you use a VPN it needs to be fast and optimised for streaming or you’re going to find the video stutters and buffers all the time.

Access to TV Channels

Many media sites including the BBC iPlayer and ITV Hub try to block access to many of these VPN services. In fact over the last few years they have increased their effort in this area as such a large number of these VPNs won’t work with both BBC and ITV.

Support for Different Devices

If you’re just going to watch on your computer then no need to worry about this one. Yet if you want to watch on a phone, tablet or other sort of device check for support. Only a few of the bigger VPN companies offer versions for different devices. You can set up a VPN manually on most devices but you’ll lose much of the convenience and functionality of the software.

Servers in Right Country

This is important ! You need to make sure that the service has plenty of servers in the right country. If you want streaming UK TV then you need access to lots of UK servers not loads in Holland. Some VPN services advertise loads of different countries which is fine for anonymity and privacy but they’re no use for bypassing geo-blocks.

Direct from TV Using Smart DNS

If you want to configure your Smart TV directly to use a VPN there’s another option you need. Obviously you can’t install software directly onto a TV so you might want to consider Smart DNS. This is basically another method of enabling a VPN connection and hiding your identity, but you can enable by changing your DNS servers in network settings. Some VPNs are offering this functionality as part of their standard package – NordVPN or there are specialist companies who focus on this – SmartDNS Proxy.

VPN Changes Your IP Address When Connected

Remember a VPN hides your real location and IP address when it’s connected. You will appear to have the IP address of the VPN server which allows you to access geo-blocked content like BBC iPlayer. However you’ll also find that you may be blocked from content you can normally access !

Remember to disconnect your VPN connection (or connect to your home country) when you’ve finished using the VPN to bypass blocks. While connected to a ‘foreign VPN” your web browsing will change to match that country including things like Google Search results.