People living in the United Kingdom have some of the best TV channels around. They can watch BBC iPlayer with no problems, where they can find many shows, movies, and sports live streams. In addition, we should mention ITV, Sky TV, and many others that grace the TV space of its residents daily.
However, many people are still interested in watching US TV in the UK. American TV channels like ABC, MSNBC, The CW, Peacock TV, and HBO are among the most popular in the world, as they’re home to hundreds of shows and movies, as well as informative shows and broadcasts.
Unfortunately, watching US TV channels in the UK is impossible because they’re geo-restricted. That is if you don’t use the trick that we’ll discuss in the article. If you do, unblocking American TV channels in the United Kingdom or any other country will be a piece of cake!
Why Are American TV Channels Not Available in the UK?
Before I explain to you how to unblock and watch US TV in the UK, let’s see why these channels aren’t available. As you know, each country has its local TV channels that people inside that country can watch. More often than not, these channels are geo-restricted to that country!
This means that you need to be located in that country to access any of these channels. The same, unfortunately, applies to US channels that are allowed to broadcast only to people who reside in the United States.
People outside of this country trying to watch these channels will get a geo-restriction message that looks like this:
But why does this happen? Simply put, it’s all about licensing, streaming rights, or whatever you want to call them. These channels have a license to display their content only in the US and doing so in other countries would violate that license.
That’s not to say that you can’t access US TV in the UK or any other country. You can, but you first need to make the channel believe that you’re located in the United States by changing your IP address to that country.
How to Watch US TV Live in the UK
And that brings us to the solution that I want to talk about. Recently, I talked about how to watch US TV in Mexico where I showed you a trick to unblock American channels in this country. However, pretty much the same trick can be used if you’re located in the UK.
I talked about how I used a VPN to change my online location and access geo-restricted content. A VPN lets you do that by changing your IP address to another country, in which case, the site or channel you want to visit sees this other country as your real location.
If you get a US IP address, for example, in theory, you should be able to access ABC, The CW, MSNBC, ESPN, and other channels abroad. However, to make sure this is the case, you need a quality provider that works properly and offers no bandwidth limits.
My VPN of choice is ExpressVPN and using it, I’ll show you how to watch US TV live in the UK (live and on-demand) – here are the steps:
1. Subscribe to ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN is a premium provider, and as such, it requires you to subscribe to its service. It’s not free obviously, but there’s a good incentive that I want you to check out. It’s the annual plan with a 49% discount and 3 free months, which makes ExpressVPN a lot more affordable.
To that, we should add a 30-day money-back guarantee for all plans, making it easy to try it out risk-free for 30 days.
I found ExpressVPN to be a great VPN for Mac and all other platforms, so make sure you claim its cheapest deal by using the button below. Once you click on it, simply select the plan you want, enter your email, and choose the payment method.
Completing the subscription process grants you access to ExpressVPN’s applications for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, and other platforms. You can download any app you want, but for this tutorial, I’ll use my Windows PC – on the aforementioned platforms, the process is identical!
2. Install ExpressVPN
The installation of ExpressVPN is pretty simple. If you’re on a mobile phone, download its app from Apple Store or Google Play and it’ll install automatically. On desktop platforms, download the setup file from ExpressVPN’s site and install the VPN by following the steps on the screen.
In any case, once it’s installed, open the app and sign in with the email and password you provided in Step 1. The dashboard of ExpressVPN is identical to all platforms and looks like this:
3. Connect to a US Server
As said, to watch US TV in the United Kingdom, you need a US IP address. To get it, simply connect to a server in the US. Open the server list, click on All Locations, and select Americas. The United States will be right below.
Double-click on it (Windows) or tap once on that country (iOS/Android) and ExpressVPN will connect you to a server in America.
The indication that the connection is successful is when ExpressVPN turns green, which means that your new IP is in place.
4. Visit Any US TV Channel and Enjoy Streaming
Let’s now try to watch any US TV channel. For example, I tried watching ABC abroad and you can see that it works with no problems.
The same also applies to HBO Max which I successfully unblocked outside of the US.
And with that in place, I think it’s clear that ExpressVPN is a good choice to watch US TV live in the UK or anywhere else.
CyberGhost: Another Great VPN to Watch American TV
If you find ExpressVPN a bit more expensive, you can test out CyberGhost. Don’t worry, this provider is completely safe and is a great alternative to ExpressVPN if you’re looking to save a bit of money.
Above all, it offers dedicated streaming servers that you can use to unblock a boatload of TV channels and streaming platforms. In its server list, you’ll find many US servers that let you unblock channels like ESPN, Paramount, Peacock TV, NFL, NBC, Sling TV, and a few more.
Once connected to the server of your choice, unblocking American TV in the UK will be a breeze. This time, I tried watching NBC, and as you can see below, CyberGhost shows impressive results by unblocking the channel with an American IP address:
If you want, you can also use CyberGhost to watch American Netflix abroad or unblock other platforms like Prime Video, Disney+, and Hulu, as you’d normally do with ExpressVPN. CyberGhost is very affordable, as I stated, and you can check out its cheapest deal through the button above.
Keep in mind that its longest plan is the best deal and it comes with a 45-day money-back guarantee, letting you get a full refund in the first 45 days if you don’t like it. To be honest, that happens pretty much never and users who get CyberGhost are just extending their subscriptions.
VPN Not Working With US TV in the UK? Here’s a Fix!
When trying to watch US TV in the UK live, you might encounter the problem of the VPN not working. Simply put, the channel might detect the VPN and you might be blocked. Or, perhaps, you’re getting poor performance and can’t properly enjoy the content on the screen.
Either way, this can happen because of a multitude of reasons and we presented several solutions below that you can try immediately.
Switch to Another Server
The first thing to try is switching to another server. Of course, we’re talking about the server in the US as well, but the one that’s located somewhere else. For instance, if you’ve used a server in Chicago, try switching to New York or Atlanta and try again.
Use a Different Protocol
You can also try using a different protocol if you can’t watch US TV in the UK. If you’re using OpenVPN, consider switching to Lightway or WireGuard in ExpressVPN or CyberGhost respectively. These protocols are much faster and in many cases, superior for getting over geo-blocks.
Clear the Browser Cache
Browser cookies and cache accumulate over time from different sites. They contain information about your real location, which can be revealed to the site you’re visiting. Therefore, the US channel you’re trying to watch might see you’re not in the US in spite of you having this IP.
The solution is to clear the browser data and try again. Go to Settings in your browser, find the option to delete all browser data, and it’ll restart automatically with a clean slate. Now, connect to the US server again and see if US TV in the UK will work.
Use SmartDNS
SmartDNS is offered by both ExpressVPN and CyberGhost. It’s useful for streaming and very easy to set up on a myriad of devices. We suggest implementing this feature if you can’t watch US TV channels in the UK. Both services offer tutorials on how to set it up.
But keep in mind that SmartDNS will, in both cases, only work with US-based streaming services and channels. If you ever want to unblock something else, you’ll need to use a VPN.
Contact Customer Service
Finally, you can contact customer service if everything fails. The support team works 24/7 and is available through live chat on both providers. They’ll be able to help you out and tell you which server to use or what to do to make the VPN work properly.
Summary
As you saw in this guide, the process of unblocking and accessing US TV in the UK is quite simple as long as you have what it takes. In other words, if you have a quality VPN that offers a plethora of streaming-friendly servers, you’ll have zero issues unblocking American TV channels and watching them live.
ExpressVPN is my first recommendation and I think it’s a no-compromise VPN that’ll serve you well for every purpose. However, CyberGhost is an awesome choice as well, and for a price this cheap, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better provider.
Now that you know about these providers and their capabilities, try them out and watch your favorite American TV channels live no matter your location!
FAQ
Let’s cover a few important questions that I haven’t addressed in this article.
🤑 Will free VPNs let me watch US TV in the UK?
During my testing process, I found that free VPNs, in most cases, won’t allow you to watch US TV in the UK. These providers have no streaming support, meaning that they won’t let you unblock geo-restricted streaming platforms and TV channels from the get-go.
Those that work, unfortunately, have limited monthly bandwidth, which doesn’t let you stream for more than a few hours. For example, in my Windscribe test, I found that it allows for a certain degree of freedom in terms of streaming, but it offers 10 GB of monthly bandwidth.
Conversely, ProtonVPN offers unlimited bandwidth but it’s not streaming-friendly and doesn’t allow for P2P. Hola VPN is also unlimited and it works for this purpose, but its business model includes collecting your personal data and selling it to the highest bidder.
Either way, you’re always going to compromise something with free providers, whereas, with ExpressVPN or CyberGhost, you don’t have to get used to that. They offer no compromises, yet, they’ll charge you a few measly dollars a month, which won’t get you poor.
🔎 Do I need a TV license for American channels?
For the majority of them, yes. This makes it much harder to watch US TV channels if you aren’t from the United States and you don’t have a subscription to some of its TV providers. If you’re a US resident and you’re on vacation in the UK, it’s quite simple.
You just use a VPN, select your TV provider, and sign in. And if you don’t have a TV license, as they call it, you’ll need to subscribe to one of the TV providers, which sometimes isn’t possible outside of the US.
Thankfully, some TV providers like Verizon are supported in the UK, and if you have a subscription to that service, chances are that you’ll be able to watch most US TV channels in this country with no problems – as long as you use a VPN.
📺 What is the best US TV channel?
There’s no such thing as the best US TV channel. The best one is the one you like the most! However, popular American TV channels include ABC, ESPN, Paramount, HBO, Discovery Channel, History Channel, and hundreds more.
All of them can be watched in the United Kingdom by following the trick we showed. Get a US IP and enjoy these channels limitlessly – quite simple!
