get TV abroad

Posts Tagged ‘Watch BBC iPlayer abroad’

The BBC has just released news that they have hit record highs of users registering for the iPlayer service, with request numbers reaching heights of 187 million last month. The new figures show that the trusty iPlayer is really a huge hit, with users registering and watching TV online via tablet PCs, smart phones and Internet enabled TVs.

What’s more is the BBC also revealed that throughout 2011, there were a staggering 1.94 million users who made both radio and TV requests via a vast array of platforms. Computers however, seem to still be the main access point for users who wish to use the BBC iPlayer to watch TV programs and listen to radio, with almost two thirds of the new figures being from computer users. That being said, last month was great news for the BBC, as there new data reported that there was a massive increase in those who accessed the iPlayer via other means such as smart-phones and tablet PCs.

During December 2011, the BBC saw 10 million programs viewed on tablet PCs; 7 million viewed on internet enabled TV’s; and an incredible 13 million tuned in to the BBC iPlayer on their smart-phones.

BBC iPlayer is entirely free to use, and is available to those who are in the UK (though of course readers here know how to get around that!). It is via iPlayer you can catch up on all of your favorite programmes that are available on BBC Channels, including soaps such as Eastenders and much more. The catch up service in particular is continuing to prove a great hit, with its busiest period being the week after Christmas, where 29.7 million users logged on to view programs aired over the festive period. The most popular show that was viewed on BBC iPlayer over Christmas was the Top Gear Christmas Special, which saw Clarkson, Hammond and James May travel throughout India in a British car of their choice. The controversial show was a clear hit on the iPlayer, seeing a record 1.7 million views.

As we entered 2012, users continued to access the BBC iPlayer, thus another record was made for the BBC. The first week of January 2012 has seen an impressive 623,000 hits in one day, as users new and existing logged on to catch up on the popular TV show Sherlock.

Programmes and On Demand Manager at the BBC, Daniel Darker commented, “2011 was a fantastic year for the BBC iPlayer, however the real news is how the iPlayer is accessed with the likes of smart-phones and tablets growing at a fast pace, thus quickly outpacing access via computers. 2012 is going to be a great year for the iPlayer, as we anticipate many users will be tuning in direct from their living rooms using internet connected TV.”

Despite the growth and ever continuing success of the BBC iPlayer, the BBC are not getting too comfortable with this year’s success. In fact they have huge plans to better their service, continuing to bring users new and innovative ways to catch up and view TV and radio programmes. One of the new services the BBC hopes to launch soon is You View, which is said to be the new Free View Box. You View will allow other internet service providers and UK TV broadcasters, to provide a service to the BBC iPlayer users via an internet connected set top box for viewers to use with their home TVs.

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.
 

An interesting development in the last few days for all those of you who enjoy BBC iPlayer abroad by using Identity Cloaker is that you can now see the schedules for other major UK TV networks on the iPlayer website. In the past the best way to see everything was probably to use the SeeSaw website, as they covered all the channels and made it easier to watch UK TV abroad. However as of a few days ago listing for ITV, and Five have been appearing in the new iPlayer schedule widget (there is an image of it to the right of this text if you don't know what it looks like!). There were a few technical issues which stopped Ch4 from being included right now, however these should be resolved very soon, you can however already search for Ch4 programs in iPlayer.

The nice thing about this is of course that it keeps the existing easy to use BBC iPlayer interface, and yet makes many more shows available to watch with ease. Watching iPlayer abroad has always been a popular pastime for expats around the world, but very often people would forget about the other great UK TV channels available abroad. With them all in one place there is no excuse to miss the latest episode of Coronation Street of Shameless anymore!

It should be noted that unlike the BBC iPlayer service other UK TV stations do not include quite as much of their content online. You will however always find the most popular programs, subject to rights issues of course.

There are also a few issues right now with screen shots of programs, you may notice in a few places that the screen shots are missing from the program descriptions. However it's early days and we can be pretty sure this will be fixed soon!

As always watch BBC iPlayer abroad using our favorite Identity Cloaker!

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.

It seems quite a few people decided to watch TV via iPlayer this past Christmas, with the total requested programs for December being 145 million, an increase of 27% over 2009!

Quite how many of those requests came from viewers outside the UK is a statistic which nobody except the BBC can give. As always the most popular shows were Eastenders, Doctor Who and Top Gear.

One other popular new show has been Come Fly with Me, created by the same team behind Little Britain. I have to confess I found the first episode a little 'trying' but the show has grown on me as over the weeks.

If you want to watch Come Fly With Me on the BBC iPlayer service and are living outside the UK then get yourself a 10 day trial of Identity Cloaker and you will be watching it in not time at all. Identity Cloaker allows you to watch almost any TV channel from the UK, USA, Canada and much of Europe no matter where in the world you are living. No longer is it difficult to watch BBC iPlayer abroad, or any other supported TV station for that matter!

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.

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.

It might well be a hung parliment but that fact is the massive amount of interest in the UK elections have resulted in many BBC services not working too well at the moment! If anybody tried to watch the BBC coverage of the Spanish GP online today they may well have been met with blank screens!

So if you are testing out Identity Cloaker to watch BBC iPlayer abroad and its not working quite how you would hope then give it some time and try again as the problems are at the BBC end of things!

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.