Dummies guide to getting BBC abroad?

[stevensfo]

We often rent an apartment in Malta where they have a Smart TV (much better than our old thing!) and brilliant internet. The modem is connected to the TV but for some strange reason, they don't have any IPTV or other television services. Just Youtube etc. No antenna or sat dish. Everything there is via internet. Apparently they used to have TV channels via the internet provider, but cancelled when the choice went down and price went up.

We're not really avid TV watchers, but if we ever did want to see a bit of BBC or ITV, is it fairly simple to download a VPN provider straight onto the TV and then BBC iplayer? Does iPlayer have to be registered? Or is a case of doing this on a laptop, then connecting to TV via HDMI?

Sorry, but never used a Smart TV before!

Steve

[swill453]

I've never had any success trying to get BBC over the Internet showing on a smart television abroad. Even "casting" from a phone or tablet might be difficult, as you'd have to persuade both the phone and the casting device (Chromecast or built-in or whatever) that they were on the UK-based VPN.

We just take a 10 inch tablet with us, and watch BBC on that using a VPN.

A laptop with an HDMI cable should work though.

Scott.

[stevensfo]

I've never had any success trying to get BBC over the Internet showing on a smart television abroad. Even "casting" from a phone or tablet might be difficult, as you'd have to persuade both the phone and the casting device (Chromecast or built-in or whatever) that they were on the UK-based VPN.

We just take a 10 inch tablet with us, and watch BBC on that using a VPN.

A laptop with an HDMI cable should work though.

Scott.

Thanks Scott. Given my experience with using the Smart TV, it would probably be easier to go the laptop/HDMI cable way.
So naive questions - is it straightforward to download and use this iPlayer thingy or do they ask for our licence ID, address etc?
Is it possible to see ITV?
Oh, and which VPN do you recommend?

Steve

[swill453]

So naive questions - is it straightforward to download and use this iPlayer thingy or do they ask for our licence ID, address etc?
Is it possible to see ITV?
Oh, and which VPN do you recommend?

If the VPN works then you should be able to do anything you can do in the UK. BBC iPlayer, ITV player, All4 etc.

I've had success with PureVPN in the past, but these days I take the DIY approach. I set up a Linux server on my home LAN (actually a cheap Raspberry Pi) as a VPN server, and connect to this using OpenVPN on my phone or tablet. The setup has been discussed on this board before, it's quite a "techie" thing

Scott.

[Infrasonic]

https://www.techradar.com/uk/vpn/bbc-iplayer-vpn

There's normally steep discount codes (70%+) available for VPN's like Nord, so shop around.

[Watis]

https://www.techradar.com/uk/vpn/bbc-iplayer-vpn

There's normally steep discount codes (70%+) available for VPN's like Nord, so shop around.

In a previous thread, I posted:

Two things regarding Nord's pricing:

- the 70% off is the saving you make when paying for 3 years up front: £2.69/month, as against paying monthly: £9.20/month.

- if you do sign up to Nord, when it comes to paying you actually pay the equivalent Sterling price in US Dollars. So you may want to consider paying with a credit card, such as the Halifax Clarity card, where you don't pay a conversion fee on top of the dollar amount.

You can currently earn a further 65% cashback by buying via Quidco, as I did when I bought NordVPN last year. Combine the two savings and you'll only be paying about £1 a month for your VPN.

And, yes, I did receive the cashback a few months later.

Quidco are currently offering £10 when a friend signs up via a referral. That's £10 each once the friend has earned their first £5 cashback.

Watis

[AF62]

is it fairly simple to download a VPN provider straight onto the TV and then BBC iplayer?

Most smart TVs have the equivalent of an 'app store' which you have to use to install apps to the TV and I have never seen one offer a VPN, but am happy to be corrected. The exception are Android TVs but they are quite rare.

So if you wanted to use a VPN you would need to either network the TV through a device which is running the VPN or use a tablet or laptop to run the VPN and connect the tablet to display on the TV.

And even then you may or may not be successful as the BBC doesn't want you to use the BBC iPlayer outside the UK (it says due to "rights agreements" which translates as 'we can sell our services to pay subscribers and if we let you then we would get no money' https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/help/ques ... outside-uk). So the VPN may work or it may not as the BBC has blocked their IP range, but it may work again tomorrow when the VPN get a new IP range, and then stops when the BBC block it again.

Whereas is you subscribe to NowTV or Netflix they don't care where you are watching (https://help.nowtv.com/article/can-i-wa ... -tv-abroad https://help.netflix.com/en/node/24853) so perhaps an easier solution is to subscribe to them if you just want some tv and don't care what, rather than mess around with a VPN.

Although to make clear Netflix give you the TV shows for the country you are watching in, not the country you are subscribing in. This means that if you have a UK subscription but watch in Malta you will get the Malta range of Netflix shows. This has two interesting side effects. If you want to watch US Netflix shows then if you use a VPN to terminate in the US then you can do. Also if you subscribe in a country where the Netflix subscription is cheaper than the the UK, when you watch in the UK you still get UK Netflix at that cheaper price (yes not very ethical or probably legal).

If you did go the VPN route, a reasonably cheap solution is to use an Amazon Fire TV Stick with a VPN loaded onto it along with the BBC iPlayer, and you can obviously use that with any TV not just smart TVs.

Another, more complex option and of dubious legality, is to set up a server to automatically download the tv shows you want from 'out there' using something like Sonarr and then serve them to you via media streaming software such as Plex. Most smart TVs have the Plex client in their app store, so that can be the simplest to use once it has all been set up.

[Lootman]

Another, more complex option and of dubious legality, is to . . .

I'm shocked to see the self-styled moral guardian of this site to even suggest such a dubious thing.

But somehow i like you more now, feel that you are more human.

[AF62]

Another, more complex option and of dubious legality, is to . . .

I'm shocked to see the self-styled moral guardian of this site to even suggest such a dubious thing.

But somehow i like you more now, feel that you are more human.

I don’t know what gave you that mistaken idea!

[GrahamPlatt]

I have ExpressVPN. Cannot get iPlayer to work. Can’t even get radio 4...
The world service works ok.

[stevensfo]

is it fairly simple to download a VPN provider straight onto the TV and then BBC iplayer?

Most smart TVs have the equivalent of an 'app store' which you have to use to install apps to the TV and I have never seen one offer a VPN, but am happy to be corrected. The exception are Android TVs but they are quite rare.

So if you wanted to use a VPN you would need to either network the TV through a device which is running the VPN or use a tablet or laptop to run the VPN and connect the tablet to display on the TV.

And even then you may or may not be successful as the BBC doesn't want you to use the BBC iPlayer outside the UK (it says due to "rights agreements" which translates as 'we can sell our services to pay subscribers and if we let you then we would get no money' https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/help/ques ... outside-uk). So the VPN may work or it may not as the BBC has blocked their IP range, but it may work again tomorrow when the VPN get a new IP range, and then stops when the BBC block it again.

Whereas is you subscribe to NowTV or Netflix they don't care where you are watching (https://help.nowtv.com/article/can-i-wa ... -tv-abroad https://help.netflix.com/en/node/24853) so perhaps an easier solution is to subscribe to them if you just want some tv and don't care what, rather than mess around with a VPN.

Although to make clear Netflix give you the TV shows for the country you are watching in, not the country you are subscribing in. This means that if you have a UK subscription but watch in Malta you will get the Malta range of Netflix shows. This has two interesting side effects. If you want to watch US Netflix shows then if you use a VPN to terminate in the US then you can do. Also if you subscribe in a country where the Netflix subscription is cheaper than the the UK, when you watch in the UK you still get UK Netflix at that cheaper price (yes not very ethical or probably legal).

If you did go the VPN route, a reasonably cheap solution is to use an Amazon Fire TV Stick with a VPN loaded onto it along with the BBC iPlayer, and you can obviously use that with any TV not just smart TVs.

Another, more complex option and of dubious legality, is to set up a server to automatically download the tv shows you want from 'out there' using something like Sonarr and then serve them to you via media streaming software such as Plex. Most smart TVs have the Plex client in their app store, so that can be the simplest to use once it has all been set up.

Thanks. Yes, we have Netflix but I don't really bother much with TV and was more interested in BBC for when my mother comes with us and if we are there at Christmas. Never heard of Now tv. Will check it out. I don't have much sympathy with ethical or legal aspects. Most Brits abroad would willingly pay the licence fee to have access but the BBC refuse our money. So they are not losing anything if we watch tv some other way. Why do they care? How much of the licence fee is being spent on trying to block VPNs? Crazy!!

[swill453]

I have ExpressVPN. Cannot get iPlayer to work. Can’t even get radio 4...

You don't even need a VPN to get Radio 4. The BBC Sounds app works anywhere...

Scott.

[AF62]

I don't have much sympathy with ethical or legal aspects. Most Brits abroad would willingly pay the licence fee to have access but the BBC refuse our money. So they are not losing anything if we watch tv some other way. Why do they care? How much of the licence fee is being spent on trying to block VPNs? Crazy!!

But how do you differentiate between a ‘Brit abroad’ and (say) an American citizen who wants to watch BBC shows and is happy to pay to do it? You could spend lots of money on complex registration and ID schemes that wouldn’t work, or you cheaply block overseas IP ranges and IPs for VPNs and sell BBC America pay tv packages (and the BBC would say reduces the cost of the licence fee, but more likely goes towards increasing Gary Lineker’s obscene salary and the rest of the overpaid lovies).

And that is before you get to the issue that lots of ‘Brit’s abroad’ are now (or will be applying soon) to be Spanish residents (or residents of whatever EU state they have retired to).

[GrahamPlatt]

I have ExpressVPN. Cannot get iPlayer to work. Can’t even get radio 4...

You don't even need a VPN to get Radio 4. The BBC Sounds app works anywhere...

Scott.

Yes, but not when the VPN is on! And it doesn’t all work all the time. There’s often a block on the live sports, even on the radio.

[stevensfo]

I have ExpressVPN. Cannot get iPlayer to work. Can’t even get radio 4...

You don't even need a VPN to get Radio 4. The BBC Sounds app works anywhere...

Scott.

No app required. Just go to website and listen live

Steve

[GrahamPlatt]

No app required. Just go to website and listen live

Steve

Vide supra

[stevensfo]

No app required. Just go to website and listen live

Steve

Vide supra

Fortasse, sed nescio et non excrucior.

Besides, when I listen to Radio 4, it's not for the & #*! live sports.

Steve

[servodude]

If the VPN works then you should be able to do anything you can do in the UK. BBC iPlayer, ITV player, All4 etc.

If the VPN doesn't work - configure it to use obfuscated servers
In Nord this is in settings->advanced->obfuscated servers (OpenVPN)
- it makes the traffic look like it's not on a VPN
- designed for getting through the GFW but also works going in to the UK (and means the BBC doesn't think you're cheating)

- sd

[kempiejon]

I use Cyberghost as my VPN, it has optimised settings for streaming, optimised for specific services in specific countries. So you can select an iplayer optimised server. As the BBC are on to this cyberghost just changes I guess.

[didds]

I don't have much sympathy with ethical or legal aspects. Most Brits abroad would willingly pay the licence fee to have access but the BBC refuse our money. So they are not losing anything if we watch tv some other way. Why do they care? How much of the licence fee is being spent on trying to block VPNs? Crazy!!

I'd guess that its more to do with the BBCs contractural obligations to the productions companies they buy the content from who dont want the BBC showing available in countries where they hope to also sell the same program. Its not necvessarily the BBC making the decsion to ignore this rebeue stream etc.

didds