Watching your home TV abroad

The short version

Why your TV app stops working abroad

TV channels pay for films, series and sport country by country. When you open their app or website, it checks where your internet connection is. Outside the country it paid for, it shows a message instead of the picture. That is called geo-blocking, and almost every big broadcaster does it.

News channels and channels made for viewers abroad are the exception: many of them stream free to the whole world.

Travelling inside the EU and the EEA

An EU rule on the portability of online content (Regulation (EU) 2017/1128) says that a paid service you use in your home country must keep working when you are temporarily in another EU or EEA country, with the same programmes. The service may check where you live, for example with your payment details. Free services, such as many public broadcasters' apps, may join in but do not have to.

The rule is about visits, not moving: if you live in another country for good, the service can treat you as a viewer of that country.

The UK and the EU

The EU portability rule no longer applies to travel between the UK and the EEA. The UK government says services may still offer it of their own accord, with the content owners' permission. Most free UK apps work only in the UK.

The official ways to watch from another country

International channels. Many broadcasters run a channel made for viewers abroad: TV5Monde for French, Rai Italia for Italian, TVP Polonia for Polish, DW for German news. Each channel page says which one belongs to it.

International apps. Some streaming services sell a version for other countries, for example for Indian, Pakistani or Turkish viewers in Europe and North America.

TV packages sold abroad. Cable, satellite and IPTV operators in many countries sell packages of foreign channels, for example Turkish or Indian channels.

Free news streams. Most big news channels stream live for free on their websites, apps or official YouTube channels.

What about a VPN?

Many streaming services forbid VPNs in their terms of use and block known VPN addresses, and some also need a home address or a TV licence. We do not list a VPN as an option on this site. We only list official ways to watch.