How to Watch British TV in USA – Enjoy UK TV Online Outside of UK Free

Want to Know How to Watch UK TV in USA ?

A quick update to this post for 2024 which I originally wrote a few years ago after a family holiday in the USA. It’s basically explaining the options for accessing UK streaming services like BBC iPlayer in the USA across the internet.

Every single time’ I’m dragged over to the USA, I think I’m going to hate it. I’m not sure why – the last time was Florida, the expectation of theme parks and fast food outlets and the horror of International Drive made me dread it. The irrational fear that everyone I meet would have gun holster under their T-shirt or the practicality of ordering food which was vaguely healthy.

But as always I was wrong, I absolutely loved it. Florida is a wonderful place, sure it’s a bit over commercialized in parts and of course Harry Potter’s World doesn’t quite look right in 40 degree heat but everything is fun. Americans are so very friendly and pretty kind apart from the grumpy ones we met in New York on our stopover returning home. I’m fairly certain the majority of people I met weren’t armed either.

Just Miss My British TV Channels in the US

Every time I go to the USA, the more I want to return yet there’s still certain things that drive me to distraction. Firstly tipping in restaurants, yep ok I’ve just got to get over it! The other is I just can’t get used to the US TV channels, and therefore the title of this post – how to watch UK TV online in USA.

There are many, many things which are done better in the USA, but unfortunately it appears TV is not one of them. Of course there are individual shows that are fantastic and much better than many British programs. Yet there’s always something to spoil it – advertising breaks! It’s just so much more intrusive than when you watch British TV. Perhaps you eventually get used to the non-stop noisy interruptions but as yet I can’t – commercial TV in the USA is hard work even BBC America !

More and More Internet Borders are Being Created

Of course in the world of the internet, you’d think this wouldn’t really matter. After all most TV stations broadcast online so you can watch anytime and anyplace. Yet if you fire up your laptop and proceed to the sublime BBC iPlayer application whilst in the US – you’ll be rather disappointed – ‘cos it won’t work.

Just like every media company on the planet, they restrict access based on their location. So all the UK TV stations are available online, just not if you’re outside the UK when you try and watch them. Before any US readers start laughing, the same will happen to you when you try and access US Netflix, ABC, NBC or Hulu from outside the US too.

It’s slightly crazy, but true and becoming worse year by year. Websites look up the location of your IP address when you connect and then decide what you can watch. For the media companies this normally means blocking anyone outside their domestic market presumably due to copyright issues and the profit motive. It matters not that I am a middle aged, license fee paying BBC junkie – I’m not in the UK so tough. You just can’t watch BBC iPlayer outside UK borders or enjoy British TV channels for some reason.

Why It’s Hard to Watch UK TV in USA

Mostly these companies explain that it’s due to copyright issues and stuff like that, it does seem surprising in the BBC’s case as they produce the majority of their programmes themselves. Many of the other British TV companies license a lot of their shows from outside sources so it’s probably more relevant in these situations.

 

For whatever reason though, it’s becoming much more common and increasingly annoying. It doesn’t just stop at TV and media sites either, you’ll often find things like banking sites and local information sources are blocked too. You can’t access things like UK betting sites from outside the United Kingdom too presumably something to do with different gambling regulations.

Blocked from Content and Streaming Services

For all these blocks the method to implement them is almost always identical. We are tracked and blocked by the IP addresses that we connect to the internet with. It’s used to determine our location and actually works pretty well, most websites check your location from this address. Not everyone restricts access based on your location but many do and others quietly route you through to a different location.  You’ll often for example see different prices based on your location – especially things like air fares. It’s called geo blocking and it’s basically uses the IP addresses assigned by your internet provider to control and block access to different sites and services.

Not all websites operate these geo restricted policies, but they’re becoming increasingly common. Entertainment sites though are pretty brutal, virtually all the British streaming services block anything that’s not from a British IP address. Certainly if your real IP address isn’t registered in the UK then you won’t get access to most sites like ITV Hub and BBC iPlayer. It’s also the case for other countries where most independent public TV stations will limit access to their domestic market.

Restricting Access to the Best Sites – A Global Phenomenon

Although we’re focussing on UK television sites here like the BBC and ITV, these are definitely not the only sites that operate these restrictions. Indeed almost every major site on the internet operates some sort of filtering or control of access based on the location of the connection.

Media sites though are the primary driver partly because they’re normally subject to archaic copyright laws which simply don’t work on a global platform like the internet. Consider you’re a large media site and you own the rights to broadcast a film or TV show in the US. You can stream content only to US based viewers, if you want to stream to other locations you need to purchase the rights to each individual country.

Not only does it become insanely complicated but it’s very expensive too – hardly surprising that most media sites restrict access to their domestic market only. So US TV channels like ABC and NBC will stream to US based viewers only, BBC, ITV will allow access to UK viewers and so on. The rest will simply get blocked based on their IP address.

Demonstration – Watching UK TV in US (or anywhere) Using a Virtual Private Network

Now there are some sites which pretend to offer free internet TV streaming, or even simply selections of free tv show episodes. Unfortunately these so called online TV channels are very slow, and spend much of their time trying to install adware on your computer. You’d be well advised to stay away from these illegal streaming services, in reality there’s no safe method to watch UK TV abroad free online without changing to a UK IP address.

Fortunately of course, on the internet there’s always a workaround or a way to sidestep authority and here’s the video which demonstrates how you can actually watch UK Television from anywhere including the USA using something called a VPN service – here it is.

Using a UK Server to Watch a UK Show

So that’s it, how to watch BBC in USA or anywhere else for that matter. Basically you bounce your internet connection off something called a VPN server based in the UK and you can start streaming UK TV and pretty much all British TV programs. The BBC or ITV site and other UK channels, will then just see the address of the UK server and think you’re actually in the UK and allow you full access. The software in the video makes it incredibly simple and all you need to do is click on one of their UK servers to enable the VPN connection and it’s sorted.

Note – If you decide on using a VPN from NordVPN then connect to one of the following for BBC as they optimize access for these channels – UK servers # 1840-1847, 1850-1863, 1865, 1869, 1873, 1875-1878, 1880-1881, 1900-1901, 1903-1904, 1911, 1913, 1917, 1919-1920.

UK TV Licence Check

On the BBC, you will be asked if you have a British TV license before it will begin streaming. You are also asked when setting up an account beforehand. However there’s no proper check – if you just say yes everything will work fine.

Take Back Control with a VPN

If you get a reliable VPN then it also works on other channels and streaming content, for example to unblock ITV player.  In fact you can watch ITV player abroad or even watch Sky Go abroad if you have an active subscription. Also don’t forget there’s BBC iPlayer radio too which covers loads of channels including local ones. This has got loads better recently as the BBC have upgraded into something called BBC Sounds which has lots more content than before. The archives here are good too, so you can enjoy old radio shows as well as classic British TV series. You really don’t need Britbox or other premium cable channels, and can save money on those expensive satellite channels too.

Install on All Your Devices

These VPN services can also be set up on your phone, tablet, game consoles and Smart TV too so you can even watch live UK TV on other devices whilst in the USA.  This VPN provider has applications ready to install on most mobile devices so you can watch UK TV channels on any of your gadgets.  The other great advantage is that you can use it for other media sites too, use it in Canada to access live TV in the US or vice versa.  Test out other streaming service providers like Irish TV or perhaps brush up your French by watching some great TV stations like M6 Replay which broadcast from Paris. You will be able to watch shows and movies from across the world if you choose one of the decent VPN providers like NordVPN.

So if you’re in the US or anywhere abroad and want access to watch UK TV online in USA or other restricted streaming services then a VPN subscription is a sensible investment. Make sure you check out the great deals from the best VPN company to watch British TV – which gives you access to virtually any television network on the planet. Be careful though, many VPNs don’t work so well with the BBC in particular, Express VPN for example is often blocked.

Check out the Great NordVPN Deals Here

Remember too that if you use these sites to watch Live shows instead of from the archive you’ll need to remember the time difference. This is especially important for watching things like BBC News and Match of the Day which are not stored in the archive like everything else.