SanNico

I second that, NordVPN is the best I've tried. The special offer seems never ending as well. It's the only one I've used which is reliable for BBC and ITV in the UK. I also use it for HBO flicking between the Spanish and US sites. My only problem is I've never figured out how to put it directly on the TV.
My son uses a FireStick. Somehow he uses NordVPN on it as well but apparently it's no good for iPlayer, which could be user error.

For the OP, if you've gone a few years without a TV, try your options on a laptop before splashing out. You're not missing much.

Plan B

Hi. It is possible to access the BBC channels (including regional stations), ITV and Channel 4 via satellite. You would need to fit a satellite dish on your roof and have a decoder by the TV. Once you have paid for those you would then have real-time streaming of those UK channels without any subscription. (You would also have access to hundreds of other channels – French, German, Austrian, Turkish, Middle East etc.)
This method means a one-time outlay (EUR 1,000 maybe) and nothing after that.

The VPN route would be up and running almost immediately with no up-front cost but probably an on-going subscription. However, the VPN solution should enable access to more UK channels, such as Film 4, ITV2, ITV3 and Channel 5.

SanNico

Are you sure about the satellite option? I used to get BBC until about 2012 when they changed the Astra beam. I was down in Puglia and I could only get a handful of channels after the change, pointing to 28.2 and with Astra 19.2 I could only get BBC News plus hundreds of other European channels. I managed to get BBC in Germany but it was very patchy.

There was a guy down there who had something similar to Goonhilly Earth Station in his garden and even he couldn't get BBC One. I'm exaggerating but it was about 2.4m if I recall correctly.

Accetturese

There is a website called Transponder.tv that has a wide selection of uk channels available to watch live. It used to be free to use if you did not need to record shows, not sure about that anymore. I pay about 7 quid a month - which allows me to store 10 hours worth of recorded programmes.
I also use password protection software, called Dashlane. This costs me about 25 quid a year for the family plan, and comes with a VPN as part of the package. It is a bit too slow to stream BBC, but I just use the iplayer download function and watch them that way. It works fine with the other catchup sites.

campos

moving around a lot lately I've watched several international English language channels, that I like for different programmes, such as Bbc world news, france 24 in Eng and French, NHK World out of Japan, DW in English... UK domestic channels have little interest nowadays for me (an occasional series maybe) but are quite easy to view with a vpn on my laptop ; I was just wondering what is available on terrestrial digital here these days: if very little i might have to figure out how to connect my laptop stream to a new tv.
last time i had a tv i remember watching bbc wn on terrestrial (maybe around 2012...) then i got rid of tv so lost track.
id say my main reason (70%) for getting a high res tv is watching films, which i download. Yes, there are some in original language on iris or whatever too. English channels would be nice, but secondary (30%).

Accetturese

Our digital decoder box has an option which allows us to watch a programme in the original language, if that is broadcast alongside the dubbed version. We were able to get quite a lot of english language tv shows and films via this method.
Our local tv and satellite installer set us up with the box and card, and left it with us for a while to make sure we were happy before we paid him.

campos

A friend with just digital terrestrial tells me that he has Sky Atlantic (in above linked list) in his listed channels but it's scrambled, so maybe he needs some extra box or to pay to unscramble it...

Geordieborn

If the new tv is a smart tv load the vpn app and stream direct?

Rose68

We have a satellite dish, but at the moment it isnt being used, because a couple of yrs ago we canceled our SKY contract, due to the fact that we were just wasting money (the costs were really high) as we never hardly watched anything on Sky. We got into the habit of downloading films or watching them in streaming, there's much more choice doing this, and you can watch what you want, whenever you want. Since Netflix, Amazon prime etc, have come about, I don't think Sky is doing too well!
Even with this satellite dish (and using a different decoder), I only managed to see BBC world news and Sky news, but could never get
Bbc1, 2,etc.
Just like others of you have said, I think a VPN is going to be necessary for me.

campos

Sounds like a plan. Do you mean load the vpn software on the smart tv?

Geordieborn

Not really checked it out, but when a few here mentioned NordVpn I looked it up and indication are it has an app for both Android and IOS. Lots of Smart TVs are running Android so the app should load, failing that it looks like you can put it on a firestick and/or Chromecast. The app will handle the country setting and server connection. Alternative seem to be out there (I've no need for a VPN) to run the VPN from a router which would seem to be even better if you have a router to handle it.

campos

Thanks for the info.
I don't have a fixed-line router, so to speak. I just use my Italian mobile as a hotspot. I'll certainly look into getting the most well-equiped tv software-wise, within my budget

C.2s

Another alternative (to live streaming) is YouTube. You'll find lots of UK tv on it. We watch BBC and Channel 4 stuff. For example the latest series of Would I Lie to You, Grand Designs, etc. And you don't need a VPN. It's good as long as you don't mind that it's not live

Although tbh we also pay for Netflix and Sky (the Italian versions) and as others have said it's really easy to change the language into English. And I use Sky for news (BBC, Sky UK, France 24, Al Jazeera, Euronews, NHK, CNN and other American channels).

​​​​​​All of the above offer the possibility of improving your Italian also through watching with subtitles etc

Plan B

Yes, I'm sure the satellite option works: using a standard dish of about 1 metre diameter. Those UK channels are not fully scrambled so an experienced aerial provider/installer should be able to source a suitable decoder and make the firmware adjustment to enable viewing them.