VPN for UK TV programmes?
 

Hi all

We have finally moved to New Jersey after 9 months of planning and paperwork! Love so many things about the place but as we are currently in a temp airbnb whilst we wait for our shipment it's very unsettling and obviously there are creature comforts and familiar things I really miss from England. One of which is UK tv programmes - I'm not into corrie or eastenders but really want to access player and ITV player and wondering if anyone has done this and what's the best way to do it - is setting up a VPN the best thing to do and can anyone recommend a provider?
Thanks

Jo

Re: VPN for UK TV programmes?
 

Smart DNS from overplay.net

Re: VPN for UK TV programmes?
 

Great thanks will check this out

Re: VPN for UK TV programmes?
 

trying to find a way to see Sky Arts, any suggestions?

Re: VPN for UK TV programmes?
 

Britbox should get you most of what you're looking for without any need to mess around with VPNs.

Re: VPN for UK TV programmes?
 

I guess if VPNs didn't work I might settle for Britbox but it isn't current enough to interest me and lack of C4 and other channel content is a huge gap. Feels quite "Davey" to me.

Maybe it's due to licensing and the diverse array of streaming options? E.g. I watched s2 Dr Foster recently. I seeS1 is on Netflix so good chance S2 will end up there. Is that why it isn't on Britbox?

That said, I do sincerely wish there was an overseas viewer licence fee option and no need to use VPN.

Re: VPN for UK TV programmes?
 

Sadly it's not just the licence fee that's the issue but that rights for programmes and even the music played in them are sold on a per country basis. If it wasn't for Brexit, I'm sure in time the EU would require the various national TV players to be opened up for access by people anywhere in the EU, but it's not so very likely it'd ever be opened up for us further afield.

Re: VPN for UK TV programmes?
 

We got the top package from Xfinity but We’ve learned to adapt and live without..... Movies and sport now rather than soaps and documentaries.....the fine weather means we don’t need to spend time indoors I guess 👍🏻

Re: VPN for UK TV programmes?
 

We pretty much gave up TV entirely, because in truth it's nearly all §4!të.

We get news from the internet, and we watch films occasionally on Netflix or Amazon Prime. I think the last "TV show" we watched as a family was last year's Grand Tour, before that .... ???? Maybe Law and Order around 2005-2006? :unsure:

I have been plugging away at Breaking Bad at the rate of one show about every three weeks. By the end of the year I will need to find something else to watch.

It took me until 2015 to finish watching the original 9 series of the X-Files, which had ended thirteen years earlier.

Re: VPN for UK TV programmes?
 

😂..... You have to learn to adapt in so many ways

Re: VPN for UK TV programmes?
 

We tried Sling, DirectTV Now and a few others, all utter shite to be honest.

We just use Amazon Prime and Netflix and I just go to a bar to watch football games or one of my friends or neighbors will usually have it on.

Re: VPN for UK TV programmes?
 

Recently subscribed to this service.
Some great shows.

Re: VPN for UK TV programmes?
 

I've used Smart DNS from Overplay for years, but recently also bought an Unblock box which is a bit more nefarious but has far more options (and no recurring cost).

Re: VPN for UK TV programmes?
 

Great thanks for the link....why is VPN a hassle though - just wondering how it compares with britbox?
Thanks!

J

Re: VPN for UK TV programmes?
 

We use UKiVPN, works pretty well :)

Re: VPN for UK TV programmes?
 

I dunno, we don't use either.

I have no idea how I ever had time to watch TV. Certainly having a child in school takes up additional time every day, but I go home, eat dinner, do some tasks around the house or yard, then go to bed. Watching TV was such a waste of time, and I don't know how I ever had the time for it. :unsure:

Re: VPN for UK TV programmes?
 

Britbox is a legal streaming service whereas a VPN is a way to watch illegally. The latter is constantly being fought by the UK programmers to stop the activity, so it changes every few months when the broadcasters takes action against the VPN providers.

A VPN will give you all the (free) channels and some even offer more than that, but there's no guarantee of quality or even how long they can offer the service. No high horse here, but I prefer to watch legally and support the shows I like.

I have access to all shows on ll channels using a side-loaded app, but it's little more than a curiosity these days.

Re: VPN for UK TV programmes?
 

Express VPN mostly into Berkshire. iPlayer TV has quit working on me for sure, iPlayer Radio is legal and can be used without VPN. Also in the legal space ... Sky News you can view using Roku, they have a tie up with Sky (NowTV).

Also legal ... Curiosity Stream is pretty neat for older BBC documentaries, but they are still better than waiting for PBS. Hulu works out pretty well for offbeat British stuff, that's how I got Plebs Season Three (having watched Season One and Two in Britain). I got Grand Designs on Netflix. I'd much rather do all this than cable TV. I picked up my first Android streamer (Ice Cream Sandwich) in 2011 in Britain before XBMC (Kodi) ever took off. It's getting much harder to do Kodi however if you're technically minded you'll find ways. I still use Kodi legally as a DVR for Antenna TV here, the EPG situation sucks.

I left a DVR in the UK and had drives sent to me when I was without connectivity ... well I quit that because the packages were being opened at the border for sure. The drives were not encrypted ... don't ever encrypt them if you are going to do that and exchange family photos on the drive too. Customs just sent them right on but I got spooked enough to stop.

Re: VPN for UK TV programmes?
 

iPlayer still works with TurboVPN (which is free).

Re: VPN for UK TV programmes?
 

I can’t update iPlayer on my iPhone, even though it’s my UK account and I was using a DNS service. I’ve stopped watching a lot of stuff from the Uk and what I do watch I can find either on YouTube or putlocker.