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View UK BBC sites from US
- Thread starter asherlewis
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If you're not still living in the UK (and paying your TV license fee) then you are not entitled to it. As someone who pays, I'm not particularly overwhelmed with inspiration to help with a workaround, but you can try your luck with proxies or perhaps bittorrent.
thanks. by no means do i wish to infringe upon the restrictions of the license or copyrights, but thanks for your reply.
I really wish there were a fee-for-service type set up for BBC programmes in the US. The amount of time it takes to get shows onto BBC America (only for them to be edited to hell and commercials added) is such a shame. If they had it so someone could download or stream from iPlayer for a set fee, I bet it would do well.
would a vpn tunnel to the uk work for watching bbc iplayer, etc abroad?
i live in the UK and pay the uk license fee, but when visiting the parents in germany i'd like to watch some bbc tv and not german tv.
i live in the UK and pay the uk license fee, but when visiting the parents in germany i'd like to watch some bbc tv and not german tv.
it's not even so much the iplayer service - i can understand the copyright issues with that, but even BBC's Doc Who site is location restricted. lol just wanted to have a look see for when series 5 was coming on air
I absolutely know for a fact that VPN will do the job. You can get a VPN service in the UK for £5 a month.
Is it possible to pay the fee even if you aren't a UK citizen?
I love watching BBC contents in iPlayer but as I don't live in UK I'm not allowed to enjoy them.
Don't know how much is the fee, but probably I wouldn't mind to pay it to be allowed to use iPlayer without any hassle
I love watching BBC contents in iPlayer but as I don't live in UK I'm not allowed to enjoy them.
Don't know how much is the fee, but probably I wouldn't mind to pay it to be allowed to use iPlayer without any hassle
Hotspot Shield is only working for US content as it uses US servers.
I have not found any indication it works for other countries, but also no clear statement, that it only works for US content.
Even better they should find some way of letting license payers use iPlayer from outside the country...
Don't know how much is the fee, but probably I wouldn't mind to pay it to be allowed to use iPlayer without any hassle
It's around £150 now!
AnDy
It's around £150 now!
AnDy
I suppose that is for a year? BBC it's a good TV I wouldn't mind to pay that to sustain the quality.
Not the simplest thing to set up but:
http://www.kaisersblog.com/2009/01/how-to-watch-hulu-and-bbc-iplayer-outside-us-or-uk/
No, a non-UK resident can't buy a license to get access, but if you live near the UK (like I do) there's nothing stopping you picking up BBC satellite transmissions and iPlayers geo ip checks are readily circumvented if you have the will to do so.Is it possible to pay the fee even if you aren't a UK citizen?
I love watching BBC contents in iPlayer but as I don't live in UK I'm not allowed to enjoy them.
Don't know how much is the fee, but probably I wouldn't mind to pay it to be allowed to use iPlayer without any hassle
It's primarily to do with the BBC's contracts with program makers and performers more than anything else. Many programs commissioned for the BBC are also sold to networks abroad so the BBC making that content available in that country undermines those sales. Likewise when the BBC enters into contracts with performers often have UK broadcast rights rather than worldwide broadcast rights. The BBC does have an interest in making sure that every effort is made to prevent content being available outside the UK, but if the odd expat makes the effort to bypass their security I doubt anyone is going to lose any sleep over it.
@Asher: I would like to state that I do not condone attempting to bypass their checks in any way. It's an appalling thing to do and you should be ashamed of yourself for even considering such a despicable act.
I've PMed you information for a pretty reliable VPN service in the UK.
You DO NOT need a TV licence to watch BBC iPlayer (the on-demand portions) - even in the UK.
The law (the Wireless Telegraphy Act) does not cover on-demand content, so a licence is simply not needed.
As such, the BBC buys the rights for anyone IN the UK (resident or non-resident, licence fee payer or not) to use the service.
That is simply impossible as the BBC buys the rights for people IN the country to use the service. If you were out of the country, the BBC would not have the relevant rights.
I live in the US but still have my home in the UK and pay the licence there.
I used to have slingbox set up which was pretty good for streaming TV. I had it connected to my sky+ and was able to timeshift all of my TV to suit my New York time zone.
More recently I've dropped my UK DSL and stopped the slingplayer option but that was mostly because there were fewer and fewer must have TV programs to justify the hassle. If I wanted to I could set up the slingplayer at my sister's and my viewing habits would be unlikely to upset her - After all I'd be watching her sky+ from midnight from New York. The only issue would be her tendancy to fill the sky box with Corrie instead of Doctor Who or Survivors...
As a technical solution it worked fineand I don't think the investment was too high.
I used to have slingbox set up which was pretty good for streaming TV. I had it connected to my sky+ and was able to timeshift all of my TV to suit my New York time zone.
More recently I've dropped my UK DSL and stopped the slingplayer option but that was mostly because there were fewer and fewer must have TV programs to justify the hassle. If I wanted to I could set up the slingplayer at my sister's and my viewing habits would be unlikely to upset her - After all I'd be watching her sky+ from midnight from New York. The only issue would be her tendancy to fill the sky box with Corrie instead of Doctor Who or Survivors...
As a technical solution it worked fineand I don't think the investment was too high.
VPN is the workaround
I know this is just stating the obvious for many of you, but for those who don't know: you too can enjoy BBC iPlayer, Pandora on your iPhone (and Hulu on your computer at home) - despite not living in the US or UK - simply by subscribing to a VPN service.
I got VERY VERY tired of free VPN services not working - specifically Hostspot Shield.
So, I finally caved in and set up a VPNTelevision/StrongVPN account last week. www.vpntelevision.com
The basic package costs $55/year and allows you to choose between IP addresses in San Francisco, New York, and London. Setup on my iPhones and iPod touch was very simple, as was setup on my Mac. Once you set up your VPN account details on the iPhone, a VPN toggle appears in the Settings app, between the Wi-Fi and Carrier settings, allowing for quick enabling of the VPN service whenever you need it. So I now have access to Pandora on the iPhone (which is, in a word, AWESOME), Hulu at home (again, VERY cool) and also Google Voice. With my jailbroken iPhone running GV Mobile + and Skype, I'm now able to make outgoing calls to anywhere in the U.S. free of charge, no matter where I am.
So if anyone is on the fence about going the VPN route, after trying it out myself I can definitely say it's well worth the cost. Hulu and Pandora alone are worth more than $55/year to me (that's about how much a single month of cable costs!!) and the added bonus of being able to set up a Google Voice account is just icing on the cake. If anyone has any questions about how to set everything up, feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer!
Hope this helps!
Brass
I know this is just stating the obvious for many of you, but for those who don't know: you too can enjoy BBC iPlayer, Pandora on your iPhone (and Hulu on your computer at home) - despite not living in the US or UK - simply by subscribing to a VPN service.
I got VERY VERY tired of free VPN services not working - specifically Hostspot Shield.
So, I finally caved in and set up a VPNTelevision/StrongVPN account last week. www.vpntelevision.com
The basic package costs $55/year and allows you to choose between IP addresses in San Francisco, New York, and London. Setup on my iPhones and iPod touch was very simple, as was setup on my Mac. Once you set up your VPN account details on the iPhone, a VPN toggle appears in the Settings app, between the Wi-Fi and Carrier settings, allowing for quick enabling of the VPN service whenever you need it. So I now have access to Pandora on the iPhone (which is, in a word, AWESOME), Hulu at home (again, VERY cool) and also Google Voice. With my jailbroken iPhone running GV Mobile + and Skype, I'm now able to make outgoing calls to anywhere in the U.S. free of charge, no matter where I am.
So if anyone is on the fence about going the VPN route, after trying it out myself I can definitely say it's well worth the cost. Hulu and Pandora alone are worth more than $55/year to me (that's about how much a single month of cable costs!!) and the added bonus of being able to set up a Google Voice account is just icing on the cake. If anyone has any questions about how to set everything up, feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer!
Hope this helps!
Brass
Now BBC iplayer is providing you the extra facility to watch BBC outside from UK, get your Expat Shield today and enjoy the word cup.
Uh... might want to double-check your facts a bit.
http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/faqs/FAQ103/
http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/help/playing_tv_progs/tvlicence
EDIT: So yeah, I need to read posts here more carefully
As the original post said, the on-demand iPlayer content is outside of the licence fee structure. This is what I do, as a matter of fact, so I can vouch for the accurateness. If you're watching it in real-time (simulcast with the television version), then you need the licence. Sorry about that Daveoc64, you were right, and I jumped in too soon.
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