How to Access the BBC from the USA

I love the BBC, their iPlayer site is probably one of the most popular sites on the internet. For me it’s much better than even my $100 a month cable subscription. In fact it’s so good I cancelled this and now just watch stuff from the BBC site for nothing. However the main difficulty with the BBC iPlayer site is that it’s restricted to people in the UK only.

I can’t remember when the internet began getting like this, blocking and filtering based on simply where you happen to be. Your standard internet citizen is now no longer default across the world, where you login from has a major impact on your experience. The world of online media is a prime example, most large media sites are only accessible to their domestic markets.

Fortunately there’s a way to bypass these restrictions on both the BBC site and indeed virtually any website on the planet! It’s a liberating experience when you suddenly realize that you no longer have these blocks and restrictions applying to you.

How to Watch BBC in the US

The easiest way to demonstrate how to access the BBC from the United States is to watch a demonstration, which we found on Youtube.

As you can see all you have to do to watch UK TV in the US is to change your IP address to a British one. In order to do this you can use a VPN (Virtual private network) as long as the server you connect to is in the UK.

It’s a very simple operation, after installation you just have to click a button to enable the connection. If it’s to a UK VPN then you’ll get a British IP address. However don’t let it stop there, make sure you investigate other countries – e.g a Canadian IP address will get you access to loads of Canadian TV channels for nothing too.

IT’s kind of sad that the internet has begun to adopt these restrictive practices. Of course, they claims it’s due to copyright restrictions and broadcasting rights. Yet why are we still licensing stuff on a ‘per country’ basis while using a global infrastructure like the internet. We’re installing barriers where none needed to exist, so hopefully these 20th century practices will soon disappear. Using a VPN is in many ways will give these companies a push – stating we won’t be controlled or filtered like this!!