watching bbc on Iplayer abroad

happyhero

Hi don't know if anyone can help me or not on this, but my father retired to live in Greece about a year ago and is currently visiting us. We were talking about TV stuff he used to love to watch and it came up about watching the BBC channels which had many of his favorite programs, on the Iplayer. I instructed him on how to use it and he found that it wont let him watch the BBC channels, they seem to not want you to see them abroad.

I assume this is controlled by his IP address but am no expert on this, so basically is there a way he can watch his old favorite programs on the BBC channels on Iplayer, ie if he changed his IP address etc, neither of us knows much about this or how you would do this, although I know a little more that they exist etc and am a little bit better with PC software, than him, so I could help him.

I do not really understand why he is not able to see the channels on Iplayer as I have heard that there are companies abroad offering Sky and they get BBC amongst other things. He does not have much pension and so says he could not easily get Sky.

Any help appreciated.

totalsolutions

From distant memory I think you need something called TOR (The Onion Router) gives you hidden/ proxy ip address

dogmaryxx

http://www.gettvabroad.com/how-to-watch-free-national-tv-abroad/watch-bbc-iplayer-abroad

hippyadam

Use a proxy with a british IP. Google should provide a link

kalaika

happyhero wrote: »

...I instructed him on how to use it and he found that it wont let him watch the BBC channels, they seem to not want you to see them abroad...

Rather than not wanting you to see them abroad, I would think it's more to do with copyright laws and the like. The BBC probably only have a licence to transmit the programmes within the UK and so to comply with this they probably need to prevent those outside the UK from accessing it.

It's the same with the BBC's live streaming of News 24/live sports/etc, as they only have the licence to transmit to the UK, they have to restrict access to the UK only.

However, for the tech savvy, there are ways around it, as others have suggested...

Lakeuk

kalaika wrote: »

Rather than not wanting you to see them abroad, I would think it's more to do with copyright laws and the like. The BBC probably only have a licence to transmit the programmes within the UK and so to comply with this they probably need to prevent those outside the UK from accessing it.

It's the same with the BBC's live streaming of News 24/live sports/etc, as they only have the licence to transmit to the UK, they have to restrict access to the UK only.

However, for the tech savvy, there are ways around it, as others have suggested...

The main reason it's not easily available abroad is that the BBC iPlayer is paid for by the UK TV licence payers, it's not allowed to be available outside the UK for this reason.

There maybe in the future a iPlayer type offering suitable abroad, BBC and other UK commercial operators are getting together to launch something (project canvas) on a advert/free/subscription/PPV model, which if they get there act together could be made available globally

SourChocolate

Hi
BBC is present on Sky platform abroad but I reckon it's only BBC news, not other channels (ie BC1 etc.). Reason - content, tv licence and all mentioned above - it's for UK residents only.

Now you are not allowed to watch it since your are not in the UK. BUT, there are ways to do it. Basically, BBC wants to know you are located in the UK and they do it by checking you IP. Since it's dufficult to change your IP address, you will need to find a PROXA website which is located in the UK and watch programs through this website. Most of these sites open popups, shows crappy flash ads, banners etc. (which is not v harmful, just annoying) BUT be aware that some of them may try to install spyware or other unwanted software though so BE CAREFUL.
Use firefox or other (non IE) browser to test it first.

pendulum

My experience with the free proxies is that they cannot be used for streaming video, they are far too slow. Tor was mentioned earlier and in my experience that's too slow even for browsing websites! Might be better off with a UK-based VPN or something paying a small subscription, or a free one (but I heard all the good free ones have download limits).

macman

Lakeuk wrote: »

The main reason it's not easily available abroad is that the BBC iPlayer is paid for by the UK TV licence payers, it's not allowed to be available outside the UK for this reason.

There maybe in the future a iPlayer type offering suitable abroad, BBC and other UK commercial operators are getting together to launch something (project canvas) on a advert/free/subscription/PPV model, which if they get there act together could be made available globally

It is a copyright issue. The BBC sells the rights to many of it's programmes overseas. As part of that arrangement they can't broadcast or webcast those programmes direct to those territories, as the rights in that market are now the property of the company they have sold the rights too.
So they attempt to block servers outside the UK from accessing those programs.

Marty_J

http://www.showmethetelly.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2

The above is provided purely for informational purposes only of course.