While American TV channels are the most popular in the world, we shouldn’t disregard UK TV channels. BBC, ITV, and Channel 5 are only some of the most popular channels where you can enjoy interesting series, blockbuster movies, and even sports live streams.
If you live in the UK, accessing these channels will be a breeze because they’ll be within your hand’s reach. However, many people want to know how to watch UK TV outside of the UK because these channels are geo-restricted, and as such, they’re available only in this country.
The good news is that I have a solution to this problem, and today, I’m going to share it with you. I’ll give you a simple trick that will explain how to watch UK TV channels live abroad and enjoy your favorite shows, movies, and entertainment programs no matter where you are at the moment.
Why I Can’t Watch UK TV Outside of the UK?
I’m going to start this article with an obvious question – why are UK TV channels blocked abroad? The answer is pretty simple – due to rights and agreements. Each geo-restriction has a legal background, meaning that the channel has a license to broadcast only in its native country.
Interestingly, this is the case with pretty much all other local TV channels in other countries. For example, you also can’t watch US TV abroad, as channels like ABC and Peacock aren’t available outside of the United States.
As you can guess, channels like ITV, BBC iPlayer, Channel 5, and others follow the same path. Because they’re allowed to show their content only in the United Kingdom, all users located abroad are blocked. Let’s take ITV as an example.
As you can see when trying to access this UK TV channel abroad, I get a message saying I’m not located in this country, hence, I can’t watch live TV. Here’s what happens with BBC iPlayer.
Once again, the channel is blocked for me due to my location, which obviously isn’t in the United Kingdom. But how does that happen? Well, to put it simply, these channels function by detecting your IP address and checking to which country it belongs.
If your IP address isn’t located in the UK, the site displays an error message, and thus, you can’t access it. However, would it be great if you could somehow change your IP address to the UK and unblock BBC iPlayer from anywhere, ITV, or any other UK TV channel abroad?
How to Watch UK TV Live Abroad?
Something like this can be done with the use of a Virtual Private Network service. A VPN is here to hide your original IP and replace it with a new one from another country. During this process, it encrypts your connection and hides your online activities from your ISP, making you anonymous online.
For this scenario, you need a VPN with servers in the UK, great unblocking capabilities, and reliable connections, which would allow you to watch UK TV abroad with no buffering or stuttering. Today’s choice is ExpressVPN and using it, I’ll show you how to unblock these channels in 3 simple steps.
1. Get ExpressVPN
The obvious first step is to subscribe to ExpressVPN. I found ExpressVPN to be the best provider you can get and since it has fast-speed UK servers that work with channels in this country, this is your best bet in terms of unblocking geo-restricted content.
Mind you, this isn’t a free VPN but that shouldn’t be a big deal. Let me tell you about its 49% discount on the annual plan plus 3 FREE months you get in addition. This, backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee for all plans, makes ExpressVPN a really good choice to test out.
You can get this current deal by using the red button, so click on it, select your plan, and choose the payment method. The whole process will last up to 3 minutes, and after it’s completed, you can download ExpressVPN for any of your devices.
This includes a full-fledged iPhone VPN app, but also apps for Windows, Android, Linux, and macOS. I’m using a Windows computer and here, upon installing the setup file, ExpressVPN’s application looks like this.
Keep in mind that the app is identical on all platforms, so the same steps apply even if you’re a mobile user.
2. Connect to a UK Server
Once everything is set up, let me show you how to connect to a UK-based VPN server. Simply click on the three horizontal dots next to “USA – Washington DC” and select All Locations. Then, click on Europe and find the United Kingdom on the list – it should be right underneath.
All you have to do now is double-click (or tap once on iOS/Android) on that country to establish a connection.
Once ExpressVPN turns green, it’s a sign that your new IP address is in place and that you’re ready to watch UK TV outside of the UK or anywhere in the world.
3. Watch UK TV Outside of the UK
Let’s see if the solution works by trying to watch a few channels. I’ll use BBC iPlayer and ITV as two popular examples, but rest assured, the solution WILL WORK on ALL British TV channels that you try to unblock.
Here’s proof that ITV works:
As you can see, you’ll have no trouble watching the Tour de France live, just like all the other programs available on ITV’s channels.
And then, here’s proof that BBC iPlayer works with no issues:
If, for any reason, you can’t watch UK TV outside of the UK even when connected to a server in this country, try using a different server. Instead of UK Docklands, connect to a server in London or any other city and try again.
However, at the time of writing, I had absolutely zero issues, and using ExpressVPN, I was always able to watch UK TV live abroad by connecting to a random server in the country.
Should I Use A Free VPN to Watch UK TV Live Abroad?
One thing people always ask me is if they could use a free VPN for Netflix or simply other streaming purposes. The answer is, unfortunately, no. Free providers have limited streaming capabilities or no capabilities at all, which is why they’re never recommended.
In this case, you’ll need a UK server but free providers have none of them! This means that, right from the get-go, you’re ill-equipped to watch UK TV outside of the UK. In addition, free providers come with limited bandwidth which usually doesn’t go over 10 GB a month.
A single day of watching any TV channel online will consume at least 7-8 GB of data, so you’ll spend all your allowed bandwidth in a day or two. Not to mention painfully slow speeds that make the entire experience choppy and laggy.
Even if you can get over that – and you can’t – there’s a security aspect. Free VPNs have weaker security and many of them have apps littered with ads and pop-ups. This is combined with the fact that they store your personal data and sell it to third parties, putting your privacy in jeopardy as a result.
Try CyberGhost Instead! (45-Day Risk-Free Use)
If you’re after a free VPN and you don’t want to pay for ExpressVPN, you might want to check out CyberGhost. CyberGhost is a cheaper alternative to ExpressVPN that offers thousands of worldwide servers, including special UK servers for unblocking TV channels from this country.
It costs way less than ExpressVPN, and although not necessarily better in terms of speeds, performance, and unblocking capabilities, I found it useful enough for accessing BBC iPlayer and ITV abroad. CyberGhost is easy to use and connecting to a dedicated streaming server can be done in 5 seconds.
As you can see in the screenshot below, while using a UK streaming server, I managed to unblock BBC iPlayer.
The same, of course, applies to ITV, which works with no problems while using CyberGhost.
CyberGhost is known for affordable subscription plans that make this provider a very good value for the money. By using the button below, you can get its cheapest plan that will cost you way under $3 a month with one very important incentive – a 45-day money-back guarantee!
This means that you can use CyberGhost for 45 days risk-free and watch all UK TV channels outside of the UK while you’re on a vacation or business trip. Once you get back, request a refund in the first 45 days, and you’ll get reimbursed, not losing a single dollar in the process.
Although I recommend ExpressVPN in favor of CyberGhost, this provider is also quite decent. But if you want better speeds and unblocking capabilities for other cases, ExpressVPN is still a better option.
Summary
With everything said, you should now know how to watch UK TV outside of the UK. Using a VPN by ExpressVPN will surely make things easier, as it allows you to get an IP from another country and bypass geo-restrictions effortlessly.
Once you get a UK IP, you can enjoy BBC iPlayer, Dave, Channel 5, ITV, and many other amazing channels. Both ExpressVPN and CyberGhost have unlimited monthly bandwidth and great performance meaning that you can watch anything on these channels without any limits.
Now go ahead and test out the trick I showed you. I’m sure you’ll be satisfied with the result.
FAQ
How to unblock UK TV channels with a proxy?
Who said you can do that? Proxies aren’t optimized for streaming and bypassing geo-blocks. Their purpose is something else – to route your traffic through an intermediary server and get around milder firewall restrictions. But even this usually won’t work well.
Streaming requires fast speeds and consumes lots of bandwidth, especially if you’re watching UK TV live outside of the UK. Yet, free proxies won’t allow you to alter your location to the country you want, instead, they’ll just route your traffic through a random server.
Another problem is that free proxies are unsafe, even tracking your browsing activities and possibly collecting your passwords. Paid proxies like Bright Data, for instance, are here, but they’re incredibly difficult to set up and expensive. With a VPN, you can pay as low as $2 and get excellent results!
Can I watch UK TV abroad on my Smart TV?
Yes, you can. ExpressVPN and CyberGhost have native apps for Android Smart TVs. If you have a TV from Sony, Philips, or Xiaomi, you can go to Google Play and download these VPNs as you’d do on your phone or tablet. Just sign in, connect to a server, and voila!
If you’re on an LG or Samsung TV, you’ll perhaps need to use SmartDNS or set a VPN up on your router. Either way, it IS possible to watch UK TV live abroad on your TV.
If I’m in the UK, do I need a VPN to watch UK channels?
No, you don’t. By connecting to any WiFi network in this country, you’ll already have an IP from the United Kingdom. Plus, you’ll be able to find all of these channels on your TV, as a part of the cable TV subscription plan. Still, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use a VPN in this country.
You absolutely should if you’re looking to retain your privacy and prevent third parties from spying on you. VPNs are useful for many things, such as gaming, streaming, torrenting, going on the dark web, saving money on traveling, and so on.
