back to article BBC shuts off iPlayer to UK VPNs, cutting access to overseas fans

The BBC is trying to block access to iPlayer from UK VPNs, crushing the spirits of those overseas hoping to get a fix of Doctor Who and other British telly. Auntie said it instituted the blockade to deter pirates from ripping off its dramas, comedies, documentaries and other programs, which are funded by TV license-fee payers …

  1. Christoph

    "doctor who torrent"

    About 8,070 results (0.39 seconds)

    1. NoneSuch Silver badge

      No issues here.

      My VPN tunnels into my company branch in a city I won't name. From there, it's a local UK IP and all the tele I want to watch.

      Since Clarkson and the lads left Top Gear there isn't much left worth watching. Sherlock is on Netflix.

      1. alpine

        Re: No issues here.

        And of course less TV will improve your mental condition since hopefully, you will be less of a couch potato. I say this as a generality, not aimed at you specifically. The UK has suffered for too long by having the least bad national TV services. We need to get people to diversify their interests away from watching TV which is unhealthy for both mind and body.

    2. BBCme

      Use a SmartDNS instead of a VPN

      The one technology that the BBC won't be able to shut off is a SmartDNS connection, aka DNS tunneling. And it actually streams faster than through a VPN connection. So hope this helps all those stranded out there!

      p.s. Here's the SmartDNS provider I'm using: http://www.vpnworld.org/overplay

  2. Dr_N

    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

    ooooooooooooooooo !!!

    1. Danny 14

      Re: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

      rent a small UK VPS and proxy through it.

  3. imanidiot Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Foot, meet high kinetic energy lead dispensing device

    Once again the BBC is shooting itself in the foot instead of coming up with a better solution that having to VPN into britain to get your fix. MAKE THINGS CONVENIENT if you want to stop pirates...

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: Foot, meet high kinetic energy lead dispensing device

      Pay $100/year to the BBC to be able to watch TV from over here - not allowed

      $few/episode to the BBC to watch Sherlock/Qi/Dr Who - not allowed

      Pay $50/month for BBC America on top of $100/month premium cable, to watch episodes a month later with commercials - allowed

      Or Torrent for free ?

      1. DavCrav

        Re: Foot, meet high kinetic energy lead dispensing device

        "Pay $100/year to the BBC to be able to watch TV from over here - not allowed

        $few/episode to the BBC to watch Sherlock/Qi/Dr Who - not allowed"

        For the last time, the BBC has a special carte-blanche law to use whatever copyrighted material (e.g., music) it wants, but this only applies in the UK. It would be illegal for them to sell it outside of the UK.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Foot, meet high kinetic energy lead dispensing device

          You can watch Doctor Who on BBC America. You can buy Doctor Who shows on Amazon in the USA, sold by BBC America. So your contention that it would somehow be "illegal" for the BBC to sell their shows overseas appears to be bollocks. They presumably have to pay whatever license fees are required to rightsholders in the USA for any music used etc, but for the shows that have a big audience in the USA like Doctor Who, that will have been factored in, since it's an important revenue stream for the BBC. For shows they never intended to export, that might be an issue.

          1. asdf

            Re: Foot, meet high kinetic energy lead dispensing device

            Hulu Plus and even Netflix has some BBC as well don't they?

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Foot, meet high kinetic energy lead dispensing device

              Last time I checked Hulu (probably 9-12 months ago), they had Dr. Who episodes available on a "Best of BBC" channel. Not sure if the assortment was comprehensive or if the service is being discontinued so the BBC can sell its own streaming U.S. channel for more $$$.

              (And yes, BBC America is seemingly 50% Star Trek: The Next Generation, which is of course not BBC programming. New content?--"Make it so!".)

            2. KeyLargo

              Re: Foot, meet high kinetic energy lead dispensing device

              Hulu is going to pay only soon, Hulu Plus with or without commercials which is extra and is not longer showing any doctor who; Netflix is the same. BBC America shows them, sooner or later, but as of this writing the supposed BBC plan to set up and charge for non Brit access has not come to anything, only that Amazon/Prime now has the rights that used to used by the other pay services. BTW it is now end of August 2016. I personally have access to the first 2 and just recently a friend let me check out his amazon prime, but most americans that are interested in brit programming would gladly pay a monthly and/or yearly subscription price to get such channels as Dave TV and the rest, including more immediate access to Doctor Who, Sherlock, etcetera.

          2. Gene Cash Silver badge

            Re: Foot, meet high kinetic energy lead dispensing device

            > You can watch Doctor Who on BBC America

            You can watch a chopped up mutilated version of Doctor Who on BBC America, with content removed to make room for commercials.

            They did the same thing to Top Gear, removing entire sub-stories, until people threw an absolute shit-fit and they then made episodes of Top Gear run uncut for an hour and 20 minutes, to make room for the 20 minutes of commercials.

            For example, there was a bit in Top Gear where they made a F1 engine rev to play "God Save the Queen" and that was cut from the BBC America version.

            1. Prst. V.Jeltz Silver badge

              Re: Foot, meet high kinetic energy lead dispensing device

              " F1 engine rev to play "God Save the Queen" and that was cut from the BBC America version"

              You were lucky! that bit was painfull

          3. goldcd

            Re: Foot, meet high kinetic energy lead dispensing device

            OP was sort of right.

            My understanding is a while back BBC shows just played whatever music they felt like and didn't care about the licensing - "they were covered".

            Then when they realized they could sell stuff abroad, they had to then buy a proper license for the music they'd used. If that couldn't be secured, then music had to be replaced/removed.

            The licenses are usually for x years in y territory. So, you can still have problems if say 1 the 10 tracks you used expires after 5 rather than 10 years in the US, the whole program could only be sold in the US for 5 years, despite 9/10ths being fine for another 5.

            Many people make their living from messing around with this stuff.

            1. Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

              Re: Foot, meet high kinetic energy lead dispensing device

              ...Many people make their living from messing around with this stuff....

              ...and consequently it's not going to change any time soon.

              And in those few words lies the secret to why much of human endeavour happens as it does. Wars, for example, happen because a very large number of well-paid and connected people make a very good living from them...

          4. Bernard M. Orwell

            Re: Foot, meet high kinetic energy lead dispensing device

            Why do you even want to watch Dr Who in the US, when you have The Last Kingdom to watch on BBC America nearly a month ahead of the UK?

          5. rtb61

            Re: Foot, meet high kinetic energy lead dispensing device

            You can also move to Australia and watch it for free on the ABC. I wander if ABC, CBC and BBC will come up with some sort of iview treaty much like their public health care treaty.

        2. DavCrav

          Re: Foot, meet high kinetic energy lead dispensing device

          "For the last time, the BBC has a special carte-blanche law to use whatever copyrighted material (e.g., music) it wants, but this only applies in the UK. It would be illegal for them to sell it outside of the UK."

          OK, considering three-quarters of the votes for this were downvotes, I guess we apparently need a lesson in the legal quagmire that is an international subscription to the BBC. I am not talking about the BBC selling its content abroad on an ad hoc basis, although I will mention this in point 3 below, I am talking about allowing foreigners access to the BBC iPlayer and BBC TV broadcasts.

          This is impossible for the following reasons:

          1) International events, such as sport, won't let them. The World Cup, Eurovision Song Contest, etc., have rights sold on a national basis.You won't be allowed to access BBC One when Wimbledon is on and you are outside the UK.

          2) More generally, many BBC shows are made by outside companies and sold to the BBC. This doesn't apply to shows like Top Gear and Doctor Who (they will come later) but the bread and butter shows are sold on a national licence basis, again. Similarly if BBC One shows a movie; it won't have the right to do that internationally.

          3) Finally, we have shows like Top Gear (RIP) and Doctor Who, which are made directly like the BBC. Firstly these are exclusively licensed in many territories, and the recipients might not appreciate the BBC muscling in, but more importantly we run into what I originally mentioned, which are two central tenets of the BBC: it has to do its best, and it can do whatever it likes. The BBC has a compulsory, permanent, non-exclusive right to use any music in its broadcast, and the artists cannot stop them. This law only applies to the BBC, not commercial broadcasters, and only in the UK. So if you want to sell Top Gear abroad, you now have to start negotiating licences. But you cannot do the obvious thing of pre-arrange the licences and use that music because of the BBC Charter, which requires the BBC to produce the best programmes it can using the resources available. So the music arrangers use the very best, and then the lawyers try to licence it afterwards for commercial release. This is time consuming and expensive, and dependent on the territory again, and so is only something you do for multi-million-pound shows that bring in lots of revenue.

          1. This post has been deleted by its author

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Foot, meet high kinetic energy lead dispensing device

            I imagine you were downvoted at least in part for your insistence on this mythical "special law" that gives the BBC "carte blanche" to use whatever music they like, and artists have no say. There is no such law. The BBC has a blanket licensing agreement with MCPS/PRS, which they pay £50 million/year for. ITV have a similar blanket license, and similar terms are available to other broacasters and the people who produce content for them. Artists can and have opted out of the MCPS/PRS scheme, in which case the BBC cannot use their music without separate licensing arrangements.

          3. JimBob01

            Re: Foot, meet high kinetic energy lead dispensing device

            "This is impossible for the following reasons:…”

            So how is it possible that I have BBC1-4, 1 & 2 HD and Entertainment as part of my cable package …in the Netherlands? And yes, I was able to watch all the BBC generated coverage of Wimbledon that I desired.

            It would seem that there appears to be a fairly simple solution to all this geographical licensing mumbo jumbo after all.

        3. Gritzwally Philbin

          Re: Foot, meet high kinetic energy lead dispensing device

          And they cannot re-edit a soundtrack (like was done with Life on Mars) for a global release?

          Lazy, very lazy that and for sure it will only encourage torrents.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Foot, meet high kinetic energy lead dispensing device

        Move to the UK and pay £150. And all the ITV you can stomach for free.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Foot, meet high kinetic energy lead dispensing device

          >Move to the UK and pay £150. And all the ITV you can stomach

          And lovely UK food and weather comes as an added bonus that you also will have to stomach.

          1. werdsmith Silver badge

            Re: Foot, meet high kinetic energy lead dispensing device

            And lovely UK food and weather comes as an added bonus that you also will have to stomach.

            Well quite, on the face of it with our towns saturated with American fast food outlets and chav chicken shops we would appear to have reached our deepest nadir. However, in the UK thinkers can have food as good as anywhere in the world without any problem.

            We can do nothing about the weather here except enjoy it for what it is.

          2. Bernard M. Orwell

            Re: Foot, meet high kinetic energy lead dispensing device

            Is that an American critiquing British food?

            You don't want to go there..... :D

            1. Gritzwally Philbin
              Joke

              Re: Foot, meet high kinetic energy lead dispensing device

              Oh, probably.. After all, even here in the States we know that British food is so nasty y'all went to India for take-out!

              D-oh!.

            2. IsJustabloke
              Trollface

              Re: Foot, meet high kinetic energy lead dispensing device

              "You don't want to go there"

              Its ok, they don't get irony either.

            3. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Foot, meet high kinetic energy lead dispensing device

              >Is that an American critiquing British food?

              I will take New Orleans food (we are so much more than McDonald's even if often stolen from other countries) over fried blood pudding any day of the week. I will admit UK food is much better today than a generation ago due to the locals realizing their nasty food was never going to be appreciated by the tourists and that overseas chefs had to be imported.

              1. x 7

                Re: Foot, meet high kinetic energy lead dispensing device

                "New Orleans food"

                I thought the highlight of New Orleans food was deep-fried pigs anus?

        2. MJI Silver badge

          Re: Foot, meet high kinetic energy lead dispensing device

          ITV

          Don't be too harsh, they have TWO programmes I actually like watching

          Food

          I LIKE British food, a nice roast, a tasty Cornish Pasty

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Still available on Hola

    No problems getting access via the 'free-ish' service Hola from outside of the UK -> iPlayer.

    Agree with previous commentator - BBC should have a subscription service for those who wish to watch the content.. There must be a fair few Dr Who fans etc world wide..

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Still available on Hola

      And also people who live in Europe AND pay the BBC tax (like me), they are being really stupid, as usual

      1. David Webb

        Re: Still available on Hola

        If you're paying the fee, you have a home in the UK, so get a router with built in VPN (Asus make a nice one) and you're good to go, you also save yourself the cost of paying a VPN provider. If you have a home in the UK but no internet, buy a friend the router and use their internet connection.

        Sure, that isn't an option for everyone but the BBC should have a duty of care to attempt to prevent their shows being watched in other countries over iPlayer, easiest way is to block VPN providers, leaving private VPN's alone so I could still watch any BBC (or ITV or any geolocked show) no matter which country I was in.

    2. Dan 55 Silver badge
      Alert

      Re: Still available on Hola

      Hola's a P2P VPN, you give up your bandwidth to other people and presumably you also give the OK to whatever it is they're accessing from your IP address.

    3. d3vy

      Re: Still available on Hola

      Don't trust hola

      I had the client run to watch us Netflix noticed a spike in junk mail being sent to me and FROM my mail server whenever I was using hola. Stopped using it and the spam stopped. I'm certain the two are connected.

      1. The Vociferous Time Waster

        Re: Still available on Hola

        If you think you are clever enough to run a mail server it should be trivial to trace. Otherwise stop running a badly configured spam spaffing vanity server.

        1. d3vy

          Re: Still available on Hola

          "If you think you are clever enough to run a mail server it should be trivial to trace. Otherwise stop running a badly configured spam spaffing vanity server."

          This is true, luckily I am - which is why I am able to say categorically that the surge in traffic that happened when I was connected to HOLA was 100% a result of being connected to their service.

          What you are saying is essentially that I should forget the issue that was caused because I can easily check the logs to see where it came from? What a monumental bell end.

        2. d3vy

          Re: Still available on Hola

          Actually, could you clarify.. you dont think that HOLA sending junk mail via my connection is an issue.. just because I can trace it?

  5. frank ly

    I see their logic

    "Auntie Beeb said it had instituted the blockade to deter pirates from ripping off its dramas, comedies, documentaries and other programs, which are funded by TV license-fee payers in Blighty."

    Because nobody in the UK records broadcast programs and makes them available on torrents.

  6. graeme leggett Silver badge

    see what you mean about schedule

    Had a look. Perhaps Mondays are unusual but its about 1/8 Gordon Ramsey gives you Nightmares, 1/4 Doctor Who 1/4 ST:TNG and the rest is Top Gear.

    Not that I was expecting Are You Being Served and Grange Hill....

  7. Pen-y-gors

    Flawed logic

    If the beeb were REALLY serious about stopping piracy, they'd kill iPlayer entirely. Okay, that would mean that licence payers in the UK couldn't watch stuff either, but hey, neither could the pirates, which is the most important thing.

    There are many reasons to use a VPN in the UK - e.g. when using a public WiFi connection. Why do the BBC want to insist that we switch off our VPNs and expose our computers to all sorts of hijacking and malware? Next stop ban use of AV software and firewalls?

    This is idiotic! I pay my licence fee, why can't I safely watch iPlayer?

    1. John Bailey

      Re: Flawed logic

      "If the beeb were REALLY serious about stopping piracy, they'd kill iPlayer entirely. Okay, that would mean that licence payers in the UK couldn't watch stuff either, but hey, neither could the pirates, which is the most important thing."

      And if they were really really serious, they'd stop making programming altogether. Can't pirate what isn't made.. eh?

      Who needs a nose anyway.

      "There are many reasons to use a VPN in the UK -"

      And watching last night's telly is not one of them.

      "Why do the BBC want to insist that we switch off our VPNs and expose our computers to all sorts of hijacking and malware?"

      Because they hate you. Everybody does.. You are a thoroughly repulsive person.

      "Next stop ban use of AV software and firewalls?"

      Yep.. cos.. well ranty bollox and general incoherent whining.

      "This is idiotic! I pay my licence fee, why can't I safely watch iPlayer?"

      Because we hate you.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Flawed logic

      Killing iPlayer is hardly going to stop piracy. It's far easier to just use a DVB tuner card and rip the unencrypted mpeg TS stream straight out of the air.

      I've got a carousel of everything broadcast on freeview for the last 7 days to pick and choose from, which will also include Family Guy and other shows which aren't available on iPlayer due to bits of paper. Plus no sitting about for an hour after a show has ended waiting for it to appear on iPlayer. I could understand a slight delay for a live show, but a pre-recorded? Err, No.

      I'll admit the user interface isn't the best, but everyone should learn basic grep operations :-)

  8. Michael B.

    Copyright Licensing

    I guess very few people here understand licensing of copyright licensing. If the BBC were seen to be offering copyrighted material, images, audio etc. to the entire world they would have to pay a big increase in the license fee to use that material. The best example I could find is in licensing visual Artists' works http://www.dacs.org.uk/licensing-works/price-lists/television-and-film The UK v Worldwide fees are such that the worldwide fees are around double the UK fees.

    In at least paying lip service to blocking viewing outside of the UK they are saving themselves fees in licensing copyrighted material and potentially residuals. ( Though how much the BBC actual spend on this is a mystery as the annual report does not breakdown costs that far.)

    1. veti Silver badge
      Flame

      Re: Copyright Licensing

      Rubbish. The BBC is quite big enough to negotiate its own rates for that kind of licensing, it doesn't have to take anyone's a la carte offering as the last word.

      The real answer is that the BBC makes a lot of money by selling its "content" to foreign broadcasters, and it has contracts with them that specify it has to forbid people from watching it directly. After all, why would I put up with Prime's crappy ads in Dr Who if I could just grab it on iPlayer instead?

      It's about protecting the cozy cartel of broadcasters, at the expense of the great unwashed. As usual.

      1. Just Enough

        Re: Copyright Licensing

        "It's about protecting the cozy cartel of broadcasters, at the expense of the great unwashed. As usual."

        The fact that the BBC sells its programmes to foreign broadcasters means generated income for the BBC. That means my licence fee is less than it would be if they were just giving it away. I'm just fine with that.

        If the country you are living in has crap television then that's your problem, not the BBC's. You have no right to access a broadcast service paid for by others.

    2. Probie

      Re: Copyright Licensing

      Yawn .... again the copyright wheel goes around ......

      It should be this though, if I am paying for a "digital" service (and I have paid for the license fee whilst flying around the world, my residence and domicile is the UK ) then I should have access to it. Arguably the license fee funds the IPlayer, therefore I should have access to it around the world.

      It does not seem rocket science, but what will happen is that the BBC becomes less relevant, ( god knows it is trying really hard to sprint down that slope already) and the likes of Amazon Instance Video and Netflix become the de facto replacement for the BBC.

      1. Dan 55 Silver badge
        Joke

        "Amazon Instance Video"

        I didn't know training videos on how to use EC2 were so interesting.

    3. P. Lee

      Re: Copyright Licensing

      Perhaps it should do less licensing of other people's material and make some of its own?

  9. lnLog

    licensing

    If they are licensing content then fine, dont make that available, just sell what they make themselves, after all that is what 90% of people are after anyway. The licensed stuff is available from other sources.

    Boleh VPN is on the block list

    1. Michael B.

      Re: licensing

      You couldn't have any programs with any form of art, anything with music in it and certainly no photography. ( Heck even the Daleks have to be licensed from Terry Nation's estate) QI has a big problem as the photos behind them are stock photos and they didn't have worldwide or DVDs rights for the stock photos. ( http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/a577767/why-isnt-qi-shown-in-america-alan-davies-tells-all.html#~prBC4hdcluB0T2 )

      Without paying for licensing fees for photography then this is what you get: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/01/bbc_snap_update/

      1. FrankAlphaXII

        Re: licensing

        Do you work for BBC's legal department or something? You keep saying the same old shit over and over again like it makes it okay for them to do this or something. You don't address any of the issues that are raised by blocking VPNs. I live in the US and I don't pay a license fee, I shouldn't have access. But someone using a VPN from inside the UK who does pay should have access.

        1. Michael B.

          Re: licensing

          Nope, I just happen to have to deal with Copyright crap on a regular basis and are acutely aware of the fees and paperwork involved when getting into the business licensing of copyrighted material for multiple territories.

          Frankly I really don't care about this at all, I just thought I'd give a more rational explanation to one of the factors behind this decision rather than OMG I'M LOOSING MY DOKTA WHO! THE BBC IS TAH SUK!!!!!!

      2. hitmouse

        Re: licensing

        So that gives you a mountain of ephemeral (but still enormously entertaining) radio content which the BBC was going to flog to the world before it closed down the BBC Radio Downloader service a few years ago, ... and then never got around to selling any content. Lose lose situation

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I player canada

    My wife tried the service they had in Canada, from what I recall it wasn't very good, lots missing or not up to date.

    BBC Canada is a joke and we turned off the subscription to that pretty quickly as well.

    Simply as others have put if you offer a reasonable service people will pay for it, not all of them, but better than none of them.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Licence Fee rebates

    Good news, if the BBC takes away services from people who pay for them, they're obliged to give refunds.

    only joking.

  12. Your alien overlord - fear me

    Come on guys, the Beeb is just encouraging the use of BBCTorrents, funded by the Brits. What you can't access BBCTorrents? Probably not in the UK then !!!!

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Free the beeb

    Free the beeb,

    Let them know it's pirate time again.

    Free the beeb,

    Let them know it's pirate time again.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Free the beeb

      Too long for a haiku, and the repetition isn't true to form.

      How about:

      Free the beeb?

      A few wept,

      Millions yawned.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Free the beeb

        I'm guessing it was meant to be a weak parody of "Do They Know It's Christmas?", not a haiku.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Alternatively

        Free iPlayer

        The Beeb's winter

        Many wept at the end

        1. Sir Runcible Spoon

          Re: Alternatively

          Free the Beeb,

          Kill VPN's

          Watch Torrents Flow

  14. choleric

    Potentially

    1. Lovely deployment of the word "potentially" in the article.

    2. Perhaps the BBC should consider blocking all residential ISP blocks too because people use VPNs on IP addresses in those ranges as well?

  15. bcb2060

    VPS in a UK DC

    I tried hosting vpn or get_iplayer on friends / family computers but none of them had a useful upload rate so instead I moved the VPS that hosts a few projects from the States to a UK DC and use that for proxy / get_iplayer.

    I wonder how long until the Beeb get wise to personal VPNs and start blocking anything that isn't a home broadband connection?

    1. ZSn

      Re: VPS in a UK DC

      I thought of that - a basic VPS is $5 per month, running that from the London site would allow it I presume? It compares favourably with the cost of a VPN (and you get a VPS as well to play with, if that tickles your fancy).

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: VPS in a UK DC

      That's more than likley in breach of the ToS of the hosting company

      Probably also sucking up legitimate business bandwidth so you can watch tellitubbies?

      1. ZSn

        Re: VPS in a UK DC

        The cheapest plan I mentioned also provides 1000 GB a month bandwidth. If you are planning to watch enough BBC to dent that then I suggest that you get out and about a bit more.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: VPS in a UK DC

          I suspect that using the VPS as a proxy and streaming video content is going against the ToS regardless of your 1000GB a month.

          Bear in mind that this is a low cost VM on shared hardware with a shared internet connection.. it only takes a few people doing what your doing to start to cause issues with other users...

          I had a VM once that used to grind to a halt on the 15th every month because someone thought it was a good idea to do something (we never found out what) that maxed out the CPU, Disk and memory on their VMs (they had more than one).

          Im not saying that what you are proposing is a bad idea, I'd just rather that a better alterantive was found that didnt require the jumping through hoops by users.

          Something like a login so that you can access iPlayer rather than disabling legitamate access.

          How about you can request a login which they POST to you (You have to have a UK address - not a Tv license) you can then use this to log in from anywhere that you want, if they do something like netflix they could restrict it to 2-3 streams at a time, they could also monitor (roughly) where the connections were coming from and if someone shares their login and you get a connection from the UK and two from france... maybe question it.

          Its never going to be perfect, but there are things that they could do that woudl be better than forcing people such as yourself into solutions like your VMS which then has an impact on others.

          1. This post has been deleted by its author

          2. ZSn

            Re: VPS in a UK DC

            I agree with the ToS comment, and even if it doesn't violate the ToS it certainly breaks the spirit of the law. With respect to the impact on other users, I tend to disagree. I can only find about 1 hour (at the very most) of watchable content on the BBC (and zero from the other channels). That would work out at about 20 GB a month. If this can materially impact the other VPSs then they are being provisioned with a very high contention ratio.

            Certainly this is not the best solution, providing a service for viewers overseas that actually provides revenue for the BBC and not the VPN providers would be a better one. However, this may cause licensing problems - whether that would bring in more money than the licensing I can't say.

            Regarding the VPS, I just realised that you can spin them up and down as required. This would make it even more economical. I presume at least, I'm not sure how the storage is charged for.

  16. ZSn

    IPv4 exhaustion.

    One thing that hasn't been mentioned so far is that in the old days the VPN providers could hop around the IPv4 landscape to play whack-a-mole with anyone trying to block them. This has started to prove a lot more difficult now that we've used up the last publicly available IPv4 addresses.

    Quick question if anyone knows - can they use IPv6 to get around this?

  17. d3vy

    The simple solution would be a login using your TV licence number and post code.

    As for expats (well lets call them immigrants, because that's what they are and it winds up the daily mail readers) can't they point a satalite dish at where ever freesat is coming from?

    We stayed at a hotel in the med and had no trouble watching most UK chanels this way.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      d3vy wrote: "As for expats (well lets call them immigrants, because that's what they are and it winds up the daily mail readers) can't they point a satalite dish at where ever freesat is coming from?"

      If the satellite is below their horizon they have zero chance - e.g. North America. Even in mainland Europe now, much tighter beams are being used on the most recent Astra satellites, so larger dishes are required or the beam can't be received at all.

      1. d3vy

        "If the satellite is below their horizon they have zero chance - e.g. North America. Even in mainland Europe now, much tighter beams are being used on the most recent Astra satellites, so larger dishes are required or the beam can't be received at all."

        Good point.

        In that case, f*ck them, if they like UK TV that much they shouldnt have left :)

    2. g e

      Even easier

      License number and only one concurrent IP address, then you can watch it from anywhere as long as you have your license number to hand and multiple people in the same house (same egress IP) should be fine to watch concurrently, bandwidth allowing.

      1. LucreLout

        Re: Even easier

        @GE

        I suggested the same thing last time this cropped up, and was given various arguments against, such as the use of mobile devices outside the home. I completely agree that this should be possible to achieve, but think it may be a little more complicated than coupling a login with an ipaddress.

        1. d3vy

          Re: Even easier

          Its definitely possible.

          Though one thing that occurs is actually you dont need a licence to view BBC content online...

          But simply adding a login to the service could resolve this...

          Part of the registration process involves some kind of verification... if you have a licence provide its number, if you dont they post you an activation code to your UK address... One code per licence/address.

          2-3 streams per login. And some monitoring so if your login seems to be being used abroad for any lengh of time/used abroad and in the uk at the same time they can question

          A register/login process would remove the need to be constantly blocking IP addresses.... If you have a valid login they wouldnt care whether your traffic came in through a VPN/TOP/TCP IP/IPoAC*

          *They might care a bit about the last one as there would be a massive processing overhead for them :)

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Even easier

            "they might care a bit about the last one as there would be a massive processing overhead for them :)"

            Having worked at Beeb some time ago (hence AC), don't worry about the processing overhead. There are enough middle managers to do it by hand.

            More seriously - having worked there, and also having more than a passing familiarity with both the tech and the licence issues, there are some things that have been suggested that won't work: you can't, for example, say "one TV Licence" is one IP address. What about mobiles, households with multiple services, etc? Also cannot say "one user" / "one simultaneous use", as a household can contain multiple people. They could adopt the Netflix approach of one account, up to "X" users across any devices - or, indeed, perhaps setup a BBC section on Netflix that's free-of-charge to UK licence payers and chargeable for anyone else. How you validate the licence is tricky, but it cannot in all fairness be linked to geographic location - if you've paid, you've paid, and should get access to content, end of story, or alternatively there should be either a rebate or a cheaper licence available if you don't want what has become their normal offering, iPlayer "free-to-air" for all UK users.

    3. Dr_N

      SKY

      The Beeb moved to a beam, that means you need a ruddy >1m dish down near the Med now.

      Anyone noticed that Sky don't have any qualms about issuing Sky viewing cards to foreigners who then use them abroad? Are their licensing deals that much better than those obtained by the Beeb?

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Set VPNs to: MEH!

    Set uTorrent to: Stun!

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    so much for that tv license...

    that I went to the trouble of setting up with a bfpo address so that I could actually pay for the bbc content I value.

    1. phuzz Silver badge
      Facepalm

      Re: so much for that tv license...

      If you've paid for a TV License then you have access to an address in the UK yes? Stick a Raspberry Pi there running OpenVPN (or whatever) and watch through that.

      They're only banning the IPs of commercial VPN providers, a single user at a residential address won't get blocked.

  20. John Nieurzyla

    BBC kow tawing to tories.

    I believe it is part of a coordinated effort to demean and cause annoyance to UK Expats in general, after all which other country charges 150% in health care charges for expats who apply for treatment, even though most have retired and have paid all their lives for the right to free NHS treatment.

    Tories??? they are scrapings of the water closet floor, that even the sewage farms would refuse.

    1. Danny 14

      Re: BBC kow tawing to tories.

      Can you get the daily mail abroad?

      1. Androgynous Cupboard Silver badge

        Re: BBC kow tawing to tories.

        I always found it ironic that the most UKIPpy foik I've ever met lived in the south of Spain (and naturally didn't speak a word of spanish).

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: BBC kow tawing to tories.

          I have it on *very* good assurance that if Tim Worstall and UKIP succeed in pulling the UK out of the EU, then Spain are going to force him to sell his palatial Spanish castle before sticking him on an EasyJet full of returning holidaymakers, thus forcing him to spend the proceeds on an equivalently-priced two bedroom flat in Slough, just next to the industrial estate. :-)

          1. Dan 55 Silver badge

            Re: BBC kow tawing to tories.

            No, he and everybody else will just wake up one morning and find their bank account has had the fine for living there without valid residency automatically taken out of it.

  21. chivo243 Silver badge

    My ISP triple play has bbc

    Living on the continent, I get bbc via my ISP only 4 or 5 channels, (but hey, how many do you need?), and have webtv available if the telly is engaged.

  22. wolfetone Silver badge

    The BBC can hardly take the moral high ground with anything after Stuart Hall and Jimmy Saville.

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Devil

    And north of the border

    This why Scots who like Dr Who voted no to Scottish independence.

    1. werdsmith Silver badge

      Re: And north of the border

      Because lately, Dr Who is more often than not, played by a Scottish actor.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Laaaaahndaaaaaahn, innit?

        Three times out of twelve, and one of them did it with in "Estuary English", presumably so as not to upset the EastEnders vibe nor alienate da yoof who- as we all know- all speak with Laahndaahn accents inflected with mock-Jamaican patois, because *everyone* knows that yoofs speak like that no matter where they live throughout the UK, and this isn't just a reflection of the London-based media's up-its-own-arse assumption that the culture outside its own door reflects the whole "country" and who ever heard of a yoof speaking with a Glaswegian accent, innit?

        1. werdsmith Silver badge

          Re: Laaaaahndaaaaaahn, innit?

          It's got a name you know, "MLE" is wat dey speek innit?

          I said "lately" Dr Who has been a Scottish actor. 2 out of 3. And Tennant's accent was more neutral than estuary.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Laaaaahndaaaaaahn, innit?

            I'm not going to get into nitpicking over whether Tennant's accent is or isn't "estuary", since that depends on how you define it, and some consider it merely a synonym for the "generic" South-East English accent.

            Regardless, the fact that you consider a South-East English accent to be "neutral" says more about either your own biases (e.g. you live there?) or your internalised acceptance of those of the London-based media.

      2. graeme leggett Silver badge

        Re: And north of the border

        Not forgetting the flame-haired Scottish actress Karen Gillan as Amy.

  24. nerdrage

    Bottom line: the BBC is a stubbornly territory-based distributor in an industry that is rapidly going global. It makes no sense to us common folk that we can't get what want, when we want it, how we want it, for a nice low price and no ads. Other companies, such as Netflix, are figuring out how to do this. Anyone who can't, just isn't trying (probably because they have internal vested interests to mollify). Oh well, the world will just roll on right past them.

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      "Bottom line: the BBC is a stubbornly territory-based distributor in an industry that is rapidly going global."

      You what? I wish the industry was "going global". It isn't. I had a 6 month gift subscription but UK Netflix is sorely limited compared to US Netflix. The BBC subscription trials may have ended but I bet they will be back and it will be limited in the same way outside of home territory.

      The content delivery industry might want to go global but the content producers will hang onto "sell separately to each country" for as long as they can keep raking in multiple licensing fees

  25. kevin king

    I'm a UK license fee payer, I travel for work around the globe....funny I work in the TV and film industry.

    So by what method are the BBC going to allow me to see the content I can legally watch, I'm going to have to install my own proxy server in the UK at home or as much as I hate to say "are they going to turn me into a pirate?".

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      are they going to turn me into a pirate?

      Well, region limiting did already do that for me. As someone who travels I do occasionally pick up a movie, but I did a little experiment when I was in Bangkok (Pantip Plaza, of course): I bought a pirate version of a film, and then spent something like 2 hours looking for a shop who could sell me a certified official version (a lot more expensive, but the holos checked out - I do know what to look for).

      It's not hard to guess which of the two DVDs I could play without changing player region. The irony is that I have the cash to pay for a movie properly, but that is pointless if I can then not watch it without measures they have attempted to make illegal - as far as I can tell, taking money off people for something that is designed NOT to work is fraud, no?

    2. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      "I'm a UK license fee payer, I travel for work around the globe....funny I work in the TV and film industry.

      So by what method are the BBC going to allow me to see the content I can legally watch, "

      Although I see your point, and an intangible digital service ought to be accessible by it's users no matter where they are, there is another side to it. You are "forced" to pay for a lot of services through income tax and council tax, the vast majority of which you can't use while out of the country.

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Stuff Dr Who

    Dr Who is resold and can handle some delay (well, not with you lot revealing the plot :)), but programmes like Have I Got News and Mock The Week are topical, so they're best seen at transmission time or soon after.

    I DO pay the license fee, but I happen to be travelling - you know, earn moolah abroad that Inland Revenue then can take off me and use to pay for more duck houses and IT projects whose main purpose is to pay off some political debt?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Stuff Dr Who

      Never considered a slingbox?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Stuff Dr Who

        Never considered a slingbox?

        Shows you I'm too busy - never even heard of it. Thanks, I'll install one next time I'm back home.

  27. Nicnic1977

    Why can't the BBC offer a subscription to iPlayer for those overseas

    I don't understand why the BBC don't offer a subscription to those over seas, I wouldn't mind paying it to view shows I enjoy, seems they are cash strapped and missing a trick

    1. Andrew Moore

      Re: Why can't the BBC offer a subscription to iPlayer for those overseas

      In Ireland, I pay a TV license and have to watch adverts on the channels I paid a license for- I'd happily give that money to the BBC- especially as I only watch the local stations for the US series that they show before the UK does (Homeland for example)

  28. xj650t
    Trollface

    Roll on IPV6

    With that much address space it'll be an almost impossible task to block.

  29. hitmouse

    It's not just USA ( there's a Commonwealth-load of countries to start off with) and it's not just TV.

    I'd happily pay the license fee JUST for BBC RADIO 4. Most of which is BBC owned or contracted or could be trivially negotiated for international. As it is most of it is not onsold anywhere else in the world

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Consistent moi?

      So have I got this right, if you copy the photograph I put on Flickr without paying me you are an evil capitalist exploiting the hard work of an underpaid chimpanzee? If you copy Dr Who you are a noble hard pressed tax payer asserting your rights. If Starbucks want to charge more for a coffee in the UK than India they are an exemplar of free market working as it should, but if the BBC want to make you watch adverts through top gear they are SO MEAN!!!!

      Don't bash the BBC on this one, bash Times Warner/Disney/Fox etc. They are the ones doing the hard lobbying for restrictive copyright and territorial licencing, because they are the ones who stand to profit. The BBC have presumably got to demonstrate due diligence in 'protecting' their ability to flog Bake Off to the eager TV viewers of wherever.

    2. phuzz Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      You can listen to Radio 4 here. The live radio has been available to anyone on the internet for years, it's just the iPlayer/Catch up stuff you can't listen to without a VPN.

      There's even a separate stream for LW for when the cricket is on..

  30. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I've avoided a life of piracy, as a rule, but what drives me to consider hoisting the black flag and begin slitting throats is when I want a thing and cannot obtain it through sensible means.

    Can I stream this as I have a TV license?

    No.

    Oh, ok, Can I buy a boxed set?

    No.

    Is there a service I can subscribe to so that I can access it?

    No.

    YouTube?

    No.

    Netflix?

    No.

    Amazon?

    No.

    Import?

    No.

    ...

    AVAST, ME HEARTIES! THIS BE FINE P2P CONTENT DELIVERY AS AND WHEN WE WANTS IT. YARRRR!

    But then I'm just a stupid consumer that wants to consume and not a big clever company wot knows how best I should do that.

    1. ScottME

      Did your mother never teach you that "I want doesn't get"?

      1. paulc

        "Did your mother never teach you that "I want doesn't get"?"

        Actually it's "I want never gets", but if you ask nicely which he is doing...

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        She did, but RATM also taught me "f**k you, I won't do what you tell me" so it's something of a minefield.

        1. Danny 14

          typically my mother said "if you want it that badly save up and buy it yourself" which is what the OP wanted to do...

  31. Pascal Monett Silver badge
    Flame

    I don't get it

    People accessing BBC content are only people who pay their license fee. As such, where they watch it from is neither here nor there.

    You can't tell me that companies can evade tax by setting up their HQ in a tax-friendly country, then tell me that the BBC can't stream to its paying customers abroad because of local licensing issues.

    Either it is the location of the company that counts, or it is the country where the activity is taking place.

    Sort this nonsense out forthwith.

  32. Mark 75

    Why shouldn't the BBC be allowed to protect their property?

    It's this perverted assumption that everything online should be free and if it isn't then it's a legitimate target to be hacked / distributed.

    1. Andrew Moore

      Re: Why shouldn't the BBC be allowed to protect their property?

      No- it's the opposite: Something that you've paid for should be available to you.

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Why shouldn't the BBC be allowed to protect their property?

        "Something that you've paid for should be available to you"

        But should it be readily available to those that haven't? Hence the varied opinions here.

  33. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I live in abroad, and I get all the BBC, ITV, C4 channels, plus an assortment of others UK channels (and hundreds of German, French, Spanish, Italian, Serbian etc. languages channels) via my cable provider. I pay a small fee for the cable and an outrageous TV tax (you think the BBC is bad!).

    But how does the copyright/licensing work with that?

  34. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Zattoo in Switzerland streams BBC (and other UK) channels for free. (Subscription for HD).

  35. Parash2

    BBC iPlayer Flash

    My access to the iPlayer is fine through my VPN, however I note that iPlayer demands the use of Flash which is of course banned from all ithings and my two PCs.

    I do access iPlayer by using Chrome.

    Please BBC start using HTML5

    1. phuzz Silver badge
      Happy

      Re: BBC iPlayer Flash

      http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/30/bbc_iplayer_html5/

    2. d3vy

      Re: BBC iPlayer Flash

      As you obviously own an iThing Im surprised that you don't know this but...

      "Theres an app for that"

  36. PapaD

    The law of unintended consequences

    It really does feel like their stated intention (to reduce piracy) would have been better served by making the service more easily available.

    As it is, by restricting access to the service they've actually increased the likelihood that people will resort to piracy to obtain the content they want to access (except where another legal method is available)

  37. Zippy's Sausage Factory

    Suggests their much-delayed global download store *might* just about be ready to launch.

    I won't hold my breath though.

  38. Faszination

    I'm not sure which concerns me more, that the BBC have blocked access to iPlayer via VPN abroad or that there are so many people who actually watch that durge Doctor Who.

    On a serious note, the interface for iPlayer is terrible, particularly on some freeview boxes - maybe they could spend some money on that instead of limiting their audience.

  39. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I just have one question..

    Is this just iPlayer or BBC wide?

    I really do not want to watch those GODAWFULLY DREADFUL CRAPPY MICROSOFT AZURE ADS every f*cking time I watch a video connected to a BBC news story.

    The BBC site inserts this sh*t if you don't appear to originate your connection from the UK.

    At least they didn't insert it into Richard Branson's comment about the rather intriguing withdrawal of a UN report that was about to recommend decriminalisation of the possession of drugs for personal use. I'm interested to see how long it will take for that leaked report to go viral and undergo the Streisand effect.

    (no, not interested in drugs - the hardest stuff I'd take is the occasional 500mg Paracetamol for a headache)

    On the plus side - if I don't have the VPN online I save quite a bit of time because it made all those videos unusable, even the zany voice used in those ads is vomit inducing..

  40. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    My VPN seems unaffected

    Can watch iplayer through OpenVPN/Squid just fine. Almost all my traffic (including DNS lookups) goes through my mini VPN, mostly because BT is transparently re-routing DNS queries to their own servers (and I don't want to imagine what else they might tinker with). I'd like to share as little "meta data" with them as I can.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: My VPN seems unaffected

      Can watch iplayer through OpenVPN/Squid just fine

      That's indeed the point. I suspect the BBC is trying to slow down commercial side-stepping because they have licenses to comply with and need to show they're putting some effort in, but there is no way they can block every IP address of hosting companies.

  41. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    ?

    Ah, the BBC, I remember them: a 20th century broadcaster weren't they? And judging by the comments, there do seem to be some people still stuck in the old broadcast TV watching era.

    1. werdsmith Silver badge

      Re: ?

      That will be the live events. Can't really watch live events on catch up and still call them live events.

    2. d3vy

      Re: ?

      Yeah, because the BBC is the only broadcaster still doing "traditional" broadcasts?

      Actually - Ill set you a challenge.

      Find another broadcaster that has TV (Including childrens channels), Radio, 24 hour news all available to stream within a few hours of broadcast for £12 a month or less.

      Go on, Ill wait.

      On a side note I find it hilarious the number of people that are annoyed by the licence fee who don't think about everything that it pays for..

      or the people that are annoyed at having to pay £12 a month for a TV licence but think nothing of £99 a month for Virgin Media or sky.

      Or the people that think nothing of paying for Sky/Virgin and are happy to watch 20 minutes of adverts every hour.

      Or the people that want to scrap the BBC but cant possibly miss an episode of strictly - and listen to radio 2 every morning on the way to work.

      When you think about what we get for £12 a month its actually pretty good value - I pay more for netflix and spotify and get less content from them!

  42. PAT MCCLUNG

    BBC VPNs

    Oh, my. It is soooo easy to download the bbc TV program content from unauthorized sites, if you want to watch it.

    The good British advocates of free content are good at uploading their TV programs within hours of broadcast.

    But, what about us upright citizens who would rather pay to see them?

    It would be nice if the BCC provided an option, so that we could pay, elect not to choose to download unauthorized bbc content, presently our only option. Works well, though ethically debilitating..

    But, we will watch, anyway. Nothing can stop that.

  43. captain veg Silver badge

    freeloaders

    "The embargo is bad news for VPN providers, many of whom make money from people who want the BBC's content, but don't fancy living within Britain's borders."

    Indeed, there is quite an industry in Europe charging British ex-pats good money to access FTA content. Where my parents live in Spain, companies with big satellite dishes openly re-distribute UK channels (e.g. over microwave links) for profit. Not sure at all how that's legal, if indeed it is. And equally openly there are UK-based VPN providers advertising their services as a way to beat IP geo-location, for a fee.

    The whole thing is deeply fúcked. What's required is for the EU to properly implement the single market and tell the copyright owners that their border-based business model is busted. It should matter not a jot who carries content, so long as the owner get fair compensation.

    -A.

  44. TomPhan
    Thumb Down

    There's more on the BBC than Doctor Who

    Many countries broadcast Doctor Who, and you'll know it'll be out on DVD, yet that's always the one which gets mentioned in stories like this. How about other programmes, something like Have I Got News For You, which will never be broadcast outside of the UK and if thewre's a DVD release then it's a best of compilation.

  45. geekguy

    Re: Good.

    Hulu does it, I don't see an issue.

  46. x 7

    last time I was in France I was able to watch BBC and ITV online without a VPN through

    http://www.tvguide.co.uk/

    surprised me, but it worked

  47. Chelios

    Seems fair enough to me. The bandwidth had to be paid for, and it's the license payers that foot the bill.

  48. JR555

    Mine still works..

    www.citizenvpn.com works!

  49. expat-mike
    Pirate

    Living in Spain I had a 1.8 metre dish for SKY, I'd like to see them block that !

  50. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    BBC own goal

    Well, that seems like a total fail for the BBC. This morning my chosen VPN provider seems to have refreshed to a different block of IPs, and I am back able to use iPlayer Downloads again -- but that's not the fail.

    In the meantime, I figured out how to use the torrent downloading software on my NAS, found a site listing torrents, and am currently sucking dr who s9e5 as a test to compare against the iPlayer version. So far it looks like (1) the .mp4 file is smaller, (2) it is downloading a lot more efficiently (faster) than BakeOff MasterClass on iPlayer in the other room, and (3) oh wait, this file won't be time limited so I can hoard up a collection of them to share with my mates.

    So, from their stated effort 'to deter pirates', they successfully motivated and enabled me to become one. Cool. Probably if they had not made the news announcement, I would have assumed it was a temporary network issue and not panicked myself into working out the alternative download options.

  51. si0077

    Solution!

    You can still use a VPN with BBC if you clear your cookies and cache and always make sure you are connected to the VPN before accessing the BBC website. The only thing BBC can do is place a cookie in your browser when you access BBC without connected first to the VPN. Simply clear your cookies and cache from the beginning and you will load up BBC iPlayer without a problem. Another thing you could try is http://www.watchfreeview.com basically Filmon but better organized for UK channels.

  52. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    You dont need to change your VPN provider!

    All VPNs should still work with BBC iPlayer, all you need to do is follow the guide in this blog here http://bbciplayervpn.blogspot.com.es/

  53. jeffdyer

    Can it be done. When we were on holiday in Cyprus I managed to set up a VPN on my home router so that we could connect and the wife watch Eastenders. Sad I know.

    How can the BBC know that the request is not from inside my home network, when the remote PC just has an internal IP address and to all intents and purposes is in the UK?

  54. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    My VPN still accesses the Beeb

    So far, so good.

  55. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Why use a VPN?

    If you're only using a VPN to watch TV from another country, why not use a SmartDNS service instead? It's cheaper, faster and AFAIK not susceptible to blocking.

  56. geekguy

    Buy a decent router run a vpn server from it and connect through that. Simplez.

  57. jessemoore

    Hang on a minute, I am able to freely access iPlayer in Spain and France via my phone, either using the app or tethered. What am I missing here?

    1. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

      Re: jessemoore

      The BBC thinks you're connecting from the UK. Are you running through a UK proxy?

      C.

      1. x 7

        Re: jessemoore

        I think you'll find she's using a UK domiciled phone in Spain

        I hate to think what her roaming charges will be............

        1. Danny 14

          Re: jessemoore

          if she is using "three" then nothing.

  58. stephenlee-woolf

    Not Just iPlayer

    Perhaps it's just me, but the BBC will not allow me to access ANY of it's pages if my VPN (ExpressVPN) is connected. Works fine if VPN disconnected, and fine with almost all of the other sites I use regularly with VPN connected or disconnected, so I know the cause is at their end. This is becoming more common - Netflix does the same thing. It looks like you can have access OR security, but not both!

  59. Gally

    BBC Petition

    I believe that all UK licence payers should have access to BBC IPlayer services in the Uk or when they are travelling overseas,

    If you think the same then please sign my petition and forward it onto your friends:

    My goal is to reach 100 signatures and I need more support. You can read a summary in my petition so please pass the link onto your friends.

    https://www.change.org/p/bbc-bbc-uk-licence-payers-demand-internet-access-when-in-the-uk-or-when-travelling-overseas?recruiter=54908903&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=share_email_responsive

    Many Thanks!

  60. ross81

    VPN use

    am in Dublin and occasionally like listening to the BBC football commentaries. Strangely though I can listen to BBC 5Live using my VPN's Portsmouth based server. However when I tried accessing 5Live using their London based one, I get the "rights restriction" audio message on the player. Any techies out there who can explain why this is?

  61. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I am using this one http://freeview-tv.com/ to watch uk channels

  62. paulnick2

    I'm concerned that you seem to ignore the very possibility that the BBC work in reverse from their list of unlicensed properties towards ISP/IP and then search logs for evidence... The problem is much much more tractable that way and hence judicious use of a VPN is an absolute must rather than just a good idea. P.S, i am using purevpn & i am quite happy with their service because it has a no log policy mentioned in their official website.

  63. fergus79

    Smaller VPN providers are your best bet for BBC iPlayer abroad as these are rarely blocked by the BBC service. I use http://www.vpn01.com when in Australia for this.

  64. fergus79

    It is easy enough to find a VPN that will unblock BBC & ITV, just don't use one of the bigger more obvious ones and you will be fine. I was connecting using http://www.bbciplayer.eu and it worked fine for me on my iPad.

  65. Emma Ryan

    I think Dedicated IPs still work better than proxies and also bypass these restrictions.

    However it is an outdated info and people are still watching other region shows and channels without any restrictions.

    Like I use Purevpn dedicated IP of UK and I am from New zealand and watching channels like BT sports is as easy as drinking water from the Glass.

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