get TV abroad

Posts Tagged ‘iplayer outside uk’

Everything looked SO good when they announced they would be showing full practice and qualifying for the GP a few weeks ago here in Australia. Normally all we get on TV is a little bit of the qualifying and then the race, minus most of the buildup and analysis afterwards. For the Australian GP OneHD here in Australia showed everything! BUT. Now it seems we have gone back to normal for the Malaysian F1 GP and the only F1 on TV this weekend in Australia is the usual little bits.

Not if you have Identity Cloaker though!!!

Just like last year I have been able to watch the full practice sessions from the BBC website by using Identity Cloaker to get myself a UK IP address, check out the post from last year showing how to watch the Malaysian F1 GP from the BBC Sport Website.

The one downside of this is I now have much more of Eddie Jordan on my screen, not even Identity Cloaker can help with this problem!!!

For the race, if they don't show it in your country, you can also watch online via the SpeedTV website in America, however the BBC TV coverage is better (honest!).

Like most people, I rely on the media to give me accurate news and information. It has been greatly disturbing to me, therefore, to watch as conglomerates have bought up radio and TV networks over the last decade. This reduction in the variety of media sources means that there is less breadth of opinion and source material on the news. As we have seen recently, it is now all too easy for a false or exaggerated statement to be picked up and replayed over and over. There simply is not enough diversity to provide a balanced account of current events.

Even though I do not necessarily agree with everything they broadcast, the BBC has remained my long-standing bastion against this intrusion of corporate media giants. Because they enjoy government support and are required to follow a public charter, the network maintains a level of even-handedness and transparency that other networks cannot rival. I would even go so far as to say that the network has a stabilizing effect on the UK by acting as a link between the public, government, and other important resources.

One vital piece of this successful formula is the BBC Trust. This is a panel of twelve trustees plus support staff who safeguard the independence of the network from corporate interests while insuring that the network listens to the public. This important group guards the gate, as it were, governing the network's radio and TV stations and making sure that they remain what they were designed to be. As technology has continued to reshape the world around us, the Trust has taken on the important new responsibility of managing the new BBC iPlayer.

Built to utilize the technologies that have made iTunes, Amazon, YouTube, and other media platforms leaders in the industry, BBC iPlayer opens up the network to huge new audiences and is helping to keep radio and TV current amidst the changing technological landscape. The inclusion of the iPlayer has thrust the BBC Trust and the BBC as a whole into uncharted waters, raising new questions about access to broadcasting. The BBC Trust is entrusted with the task of sorting out what can and can't be done with this new feature so that it stays democratic, efficient, and useful.

Want to Watch BBC iPlayer Abroad? Learn How

As use of the BBC iPlayer has increased, it has fallen to the Trust to determine such things as how much access to programming the public will have, how far back episode archives will reach, and the effectiveness of the design of the player itself, as well as analyzing public response to these factors. In this capacity, the BBC Trust fulfills a hugely important role by acting as consumer agents with direct access to management. By instigating thoughtful rules and then collecting responses from the public, the Trust has been an essential part of developing a media platform that is useful and fair. In my opinion, safeguards like this are what keep the BBC far more responsible to the public than for-profit networks, and perhaps goes a long way to explaining the continued popularity of the BBC and its iPlayer service abroad.

As technology rolls quickly forward, we must remember that the precedents that we set today will have an impact on the way systems evolve. Over the last few years, the BBC Trust has proved its worth by guiding the network in its launch of this new and powerful technology. Through its ability to govern the BBC while remaining responsible only to subscribers, the BBC Trust is an excellent example to follow as we forge ahead into the rapidly evolving world of new media access. In the years to come it will be partly down to the BBC Trust to decide exactly what content will be available on the much talked about Global iPlayer service (though TV rights holders, and no doubt EU politicians are going to have the final say!).

What is certainly clear already is that the Global iPlayer service will be an extremely limited one, containing only a selection of BBC content, and unlikely to contain any live streaming. Thus while I am happy that the Trust is there to keep the standards of the BBC high, I am equally happy that the services of Identity Cloaker allow me to continue to enjoy the full content offered by the BBC abroad.
 

At risk of making this a Doctor Who blog (perhaps not so bad, better than going on and on about iPlayer abroad anyway!) a date for your diaries is Saturday April 23rd… The return of Doctor Who to the BBC! The first show is going to be a two parter written by Steven Moffat, so we can be pretty sure of a fun filled couple of hours.

This 6th series of Doctor Who is going to be split, with the first half ending early June and then starting up again in the Autumn. The question then is will the new Torchwood be on during the break?

As always you can watch Doctor Who outside the UK live on BBC1 by using Identity Cloaker to get yourself a UK IP address.

I was speaking with an American user of Identity Cloaker recently, who obviously was using it to watch American TV in his home away from home in Moscow, Russia (Showcase, HBO and Hulu to be precise). Anyway I was a little suprised to hear from him that he had NEVER heard of the BBC iPlayer service, ok actually I was very suprised. The vast majority of people who come here do so simply to watch BBC television abroad, and yet I must now consider that several thousand people a month who visit this site actually have no idea what the iPlayer service is!

So lets correct that issue right now!

The service was originally called Interactive Media Player, and was announced back around 2003 and generated much anticipation. However, since then the product was met with much criticism due to the constant rebranding and testing periods that lasted at least 4 years until the product was officially launched. A group of 5000 internet users then tested the service for 5 months during October 2005-Feb 2006. After another frustrating wait, the program was re tested in a closed beta version. Beta is the testing stage that programs go through, right before the final program is released. What really irritated most customers who sponsored the program through payment of television licenses was that it stayed in the beta stage for quite a while.

Around mid 2009 BBC started streaming and offering television shows in upgraded quality; with some in High Definition, and others in Mp4 format. There are rumours that an iPad and iPhone compatible application will soon be released very soon (they have got through the big hurdles of the BBC Trust). Once this is in place, BBC shows will be available 24/7 from any location in the UK (and abroad for those of you using Identity Cloaker). Some experts predict that this technology will soon move to other handheld devices, including Android, Symbian and Windows Mobile. In fact, as an April Fools’ joke, the British Broadcasting Corporation announced a ‘breakfast telly’ version available on a toaster, with a special 7 inch heat proof display screen. Despite numerous criticisms from, well, critics; the BBC iPlayer service has become extremely popular across the UK and around the globe, and the new possibilities being developed (however long they may take) will ensure that the BBC remains ahead of the game.

Just a quick Merry Christmas to everybody, and don't forget to watch the latest Doctor Who Christmas Special!

As always you can enjoy UK TV abroad with the help of Identity Cloaker, giving you not only UK but US, Canadian and other European TV too.

Of all the countries in the world where there is a HUGE demand for British TV it seems the one I now live in is just about the hardest to get it working. It's a combination of distance and poor Internet connections to Europe that make it such a problem, and I am sure it's pretty much the same in New Zealand too.

There are many places far from the UK where watching British TV online is easy, Japan springs to mind right away. Despite the huge distance between Japan and the UK the quality of Japanese Internet connections makes it quite easy to watch British TV there, something born out by the large number of Japanese users of Identity Cloaker.

While connections from Australia to the USA are pretty good, I often get twice the amount of bandwidth from the Gold Coast to servers in California than I do to London/Manchester England, it's a simple fact more people want to watch British TV like BBC iPlayer than want to watch Hulu from the US.

So if you want to watch British TV in Australia what are your options to improve your chances?

1) Firstly within Identity Cloaker turn OFF encryption, this is very important. It seems that many Australian ISPs are limiting encrypted connections, I have found that speeds often increase by 400% with encryption turned off.

2) When watching BBC iPlayer, and a few other online British TV providers, you can turn off Identity Cloaker once the program has started. To do this you need to get past any 'adverts' or promotional idents which are on before the show and wait for the actual program to start. Then just click 'Disconnect' in Identity Cloaker and you will now be streaming directly.

3) Look for a lower bandwidth version of the same program. Remember sites like BBC iPlayer are designed for UK users, and so they use quite high bandwidth. In places like Australia it may be impossible to get enough bandwidth to watch in the highest quality HD. Look for any options which allow you to use less bandwidth:

4) Download British TV. If you don't have the bandwidth to watch the program live you can often download it and watch it later, with BBC iPlayer you get 30 days to view the program.

5) Try again! This might sound silly but do try again at a different time, the Internet is always changing and you will find there are periods when there is simply to much congestion for you to watch British TV in Australia. Popular events like the UK general election brought systems like BBC iPlayer to its knees with so many people trying to watch it. Remember you can watch anything up to 7 days after it has been shown, so there is plenty of time.

I hope the above is of some help, if you have been trying to use Identity Cloaker to watch British TV in Australia, or anywhere in the world for that matter, and are having problems please feel free to contact me via the 'contact us' link at the bottom of the page. I will be happy to try and help you get the most out of watching British TV abroad.

I have often wondered why it is that so many people want to watch UK TV abroad, no so much the fact they want to watch TV but why UK TV in particular. Any search on Google will, and you should know this as that's how I expect you got here, reveal countless online TV viewing opportunities. Quite a few will mention Hulu or other US networks, but the only which you will see the most is the BBC's iPlayer. So much so that many people perhaps think that BBC iPlayer represents all available UK TV abroad!

The BBC is however a good example as the quality of shows output are generally amongst the highest in the world. While the USA has a reputation for long running mainstream format shows it is not often that a US network will break the mold and go with something different. On the other hand the BBC, which does not have the same advertising pressures as most TV stations, has slightly more freedom to go its own way with things. As a result we end up with diverse, quality programing, and one of the main reasons for the popularity of UK TV abroad.

Taking this year as an example the BBC has had amazing success with the new (new(new)) Doctor Who, the third incarnation in the current rebirth of the franchise. Not only changing the lead actor but all of the support actors and much of the production crew and writers. Such transitions are almost unheard of with US TV shows, sure the odd character may be replaced but rarely will a complete restart be allowed. Another show which has seen a huge transformation was the BBC Sherlock, an daring modernization of the popular Sherlock Holmes stories. The premise was audacious and yet simple, bringing the characters of Sherlock Holmes to the 21st Century. The similarities between Sherlock and Doctor Who are quite obvious to anybody who has watched them, but it's this modern style of show format which makes UK TV abroad so popular.

The above new shows, along with staples such as Top Gear, Eastenders and Come Dancing have all resulted in a huge increase of demand for UK TV abroad over recent years. This is of course only considering the programming output of the BBC, and says nothing of other terrestrial channels or indeed the specialist satellite channels whom have all produced hundreds of quality shows. As a such the export of UK TV abroad has increased by 9%, a trend that looks set to continue with the continued and growing popularity of UK TV abroad.

Anybody who wished to watch UK TV abroad can do so by using the great proxy and VPN software provided by Identity Cloaker. You will see a number of such packages offered on the net, ranging from free to very expensive. Identity Cloakers pricing, of less than $10 a month, puts it towards the cheaper end of the spectrum however the quality of service, and program itself, is definitely one of the best available. Identity Cloaker is not marketed as a TV viewing platform, however it is because their servers were originally setup to provide extreme levels of security and confidentiality that they offer the best service available. You can read more about viewing TV with Identity Cloaker on this site, while information on the security aspects of Identity Cloaker are better covered at change-your-ip.com and the excellent Anonymous Proxies blog.

Doing the rounds again is the news that the BBC will be launching a global iPlayer for those living outside the UK.

Great we can all cancel out subscriptions to Identity Cloaker!!! er…. Well… Probably not.

There are a number of things to consider, not least of which is that BBC Global iPlayer is not going to be free either. In fact given that the BBC has already stated that people will be willing to pay up to 10 pounds a show, that more than an entire months subscription to Identity Cloaker! There is also the simple fact that this will be a select service, there is NO way it will include all the content broadcast by the BBC and included on the proper iPlayer Website. Why? Well just consider F1 racing, they do not have (and never will have) the rights to broadcast this online internationally. Equally shows which the BBC do not directly own will require special permission to be broadcast, something they are unlikely to bother with.

So what will be on BBC Global iPlayer? Well lets take a guess that you will be getting Doctor Who, Top Gear and Eastenders for sure. However would you be willing to pay so much just to watch these shows?

At the moment there is no timeframe for the deployment of the Global iPlayer (past attempts have been blocked by other UK and European TV companies, and this may well happen again), it has however been stated it will be sometime in 2011. So right now if you want to watch BBC iPlayer abroad your best bet is still Identity Cloaker. In 12 months time I would say 99% your best bet to be watching iPlayer outside the UK will still be Identity Cloaker and not BBC Global iPlayer.

 After a month, or was it several years, the close battle for who with run the next UK Government is perhaps coming to an end (well assuming there is not a hung parliament!). Those of you living abroad but with close ties to the UK may well want to enjoy the UK Election TV coverage abroad, and of course as always you can!

With most programs starting around 10pm UK time you can watch using Identity Cloaker anywhere in the world on:

• BBC iPlayer
• Sky News
• ITV Player

If you don't already have Identity Cloaker then don't worry as the signup process only takes a few minutes, and if all you want to watch is tonight election broadcasts then the 10 day trial for 5 Euros is all you need (and don't worry at the end of the trial the subscription DOES NOT auto renew). If you want to know how to setup Identity Cloaker to watch BBC iPlayer Abroad along with all the other UK TV channels then take a look at our simple guide.

Yes it truly is as simple as running software that makes it look like your computer is in the UK to watch BBC iPlayer abroad, perhaps a better question is why?

If they, the BBC, wanted to block users from viewing their system from abroad they could. Much the same as Sky TV could easily take action against people viewing Sky Television down on the Costa Del Sol! Now of course Sky has a commercial Internet as they still make make money from each any every customer. In the case of the BBC IF you are not paying for a license fee then you are not contributing to their revenue, however the BBC currently has NO method for you to contribute unless you have a house in the UK!

So why do they allow it? Well we can only speculate here. Perhaps they want the publicity, that people from all over the world will get to see BBC content and enjoy it, perhaps then buy BBC DVDs or even subscribe to local BBC versions like BBC America or BBC HD in Australia. There is also the growing idea that eventually the BBC will officially launch its services abroad, in fact we talked about this idea only a week or so ago. If they were to launch globally then it would perhaps be nice for them to already have a user base of many thousands of people already bestowing the greatness of the BBC to their friends.

Whatever the reason the simple fact is its incredibly easy to watch BBC iPlayer abroad, I have tested it with Identity Cloaker in countries all over the world and have rarely had issues. In fact the only problems I ever had were with an ISP called Dodo in Australia, they are well known for being slow even by Australian standards!

The simple thing to do is use the 10 day trial and test your ISP for watching BBC iPlayer abroad in just a few minutes time. I can say with great honesty that for most ISPs it will work just fine.