Why is it so hard to watch BBC programmes abroad?

[Whetherornotyoutry]

Yes, I know you can set up a VPN and get round it but I would love to legally pay a subscription and watch BBC player. There are so many programmes I am interested in and seemingly there is no legal way to do it. Years ago I could get BBC channels on Sky but they stopped that. It just seems like such a wasted opportunity?

Can you get them on Britbox ?

Presumably because you're supposed to have a TV licence, which isn't available abroad?

Is it to do with people getting out of paying the licence fee? Guess they don't have detector vans in Spain (joke, I know they're a thing of the past!). The sooner the service becomes free with ads the better.

Yes but I think the op means she would like the opportunity to pay and get the bbc.

I agree, I'd have paid loads more than the licence fee when I lived overseas. I suppose it's so they can sell their programmes to other countries and say they have never been available there.

It's stuff like Have I got news for you and even just the news I wanted to watch. Not necessarily big series.

Presumably because you're supposed to have a TV licence, which isn't available abroad?

Of course it is.

I have BBC 1, BBC 2 and BBC First. Through my provider.

Sadly we don't get Iplayer.

Agreed OP. It should be as easy as Netflix.

I suppose it's so they can sell their programmes to other countries

They already do that. I think there's an annual fair that Brit tv companies flog their stuff abroad.

Loads of Brit stuff on our national tv channels.

Contracts with the writers, actors, music etc. The remuneration will be based on broadcasting within the UK because that's the BBC's core business.

When they sell programmes to foreign broadcasters or via a subscription service like Brit Box, they have to pay the contributors more money, and have the admin of sorting that out.

There isn’t enough advertising income in the UK to sustain another channel, TV advertising spending has dropped significantly in recent years because people don’t have to watch the adverts like they used to so companies spend money elsewhere.

If the BBC took adverts it would mean other commercial channels would become unsustainable, the gov probably wouldn’t allow it tbh because it would be a nightmare for other UK channels.

There was a recent episode of ‘You and Yours’ about paying for the BBC and it explained all of this - it’s due to the licensing of programmes that are already sold overseas in certain markets.

Yes, sounds right. We tend to record anything decent that has adverts if we can.

Because iPlayer is a service to benefit UK licence fee payers. Outside the UK the BBC licences programmes to other broadcasters and services. This makes the most money to bring back to the BBC which they can use to make more programmes.

They have looked at having an international version of iPlayer but it wouldn’t make as much money (and it would make it harder to earn money by licensing the same programmes to their broadcasters).

*They already do that. I think there's an annual fair that Brit tv companies flog their stuff abroad.

Loads of Brit stuff on our national tv channels.*

Yes, I realise that. I've lived all over the world.

What I mean is that if the bbc want to sell Ludwig to Netflix Australia they can sell it for more if it's never been on before in Australia than they can if ten percent of the population have watched it on a subscription based bbc service.

It's the same with many broadcasters from other countries. I'd love to watch German tv but cannot access much of it in the UK.

To be clear, I want to pay! Yes, I guess it's because they want to sell the rights separately but it's frustrating because they are not actually being sold to any providers where I am (Italy) - or at least very few. Britbox was scheduled to open here but that seems to have been cancelled. It's just annoying because 20 years ago it was actually easier. Now we have all the online services but I can't watch what I want to - including Ludwig.

I'm with you. I don't like being sneaky and would prefer to pay for content properly, but the BBC does not seem to want to offer a streaming service to overseas people. So I just look out for the odd pirated vid on Youtube etc and put up with the often-not-great quality. I'd rather pay, but there is no option!

you can get BBC as a Chanel on prime in some countries. Have you had a look there?

a channel, b...dy autocorrect.

I'm in Ireland and was able to pay for a BBC iPlayer subscription about 15 years ago. Loved it. Can't get it now, luckily I have other ways of finding things.

We divide our time between the UK and France and we do have a TV licence and it is a pain that there isn’t a way to login and use it from France. We never had any qualms about using a VPN because we’d already paid. The iPlayer seems a lot more adept at detecting VPN use nowadays though. Ideally there would be a service that anyone anywhere could pay to subscribe to, but I get that all the legal complexity around that is probably just too much to untangle.

At least now with decent broadband we can use Netflix, Prime etc. There is a bit of British TV available on YouTube, we kept up to date with Only Connect on our last trip, and there’s lots of old stuff like Poirot if you feel like a nostalgia fest.

The only way to use BBC iPlayer is to download the series you want to watch, in advance, then disconnect from the internet once you are abroad and watch the saved programmes whilst offline. IME VPNs don't work. (I have tried several). Netflix doesn't work with VPN either, but the content in Europe and elsewhere out of UK is much better, so I don't mind that. It is worth signing up for Australian streaming services and using with VPN. You can get some decent programmes that way.

Sorry OP, just realised you live abroad. that is more difficult. Decades ago we used to use something called a sling box. It involved lots of wires and connections. I don't know if there is an equivalent now.

Depending on where you are in Europe you can get a satellite dish and get a Freesat box. Don't think it reaches to Italy though.

TBH I take the view that if they won't take my money then I'll use a VPN, just like when we had to copy US DVDs onto a PC to watch in Europe.

None of these licencing arrangements are made with the consumer in mind so why respect them?

@NormalAuntFanny I am beginning to come around to the VPN idea as I really want to watch The Mirror and the Light - "not available in Italy".🙄

Thanks but it is not on Prime Italia.