Why can't I ever watch what I want to watch?!

[rifling]

This is obviously a total first world problem but it is annoying me that we have Netflix, Amazon prime, and Now TV (not always at the same time). We live in Italy. I want to watch Motherland, Call the Midwife and old films! I can never find anything that I actually want to watch. Why won't the BBC actually set up a payable service for overseas viewers? Is there a platform for old films that I haven't discovered yet? There seems to be so much choice these days but actually all of these platforms seem to be selling more or less the same thing and it's not what I want to watch. No wonder people use VPNs!

It does really annoy me that foreigners like you (you have now left the UK) are watching for free whilst we have to pay a TV license.

1. Leaving the UK doesn't make you a foreigner
2. As I have explained, I am NOT watching for free as I want to pay!

To me old films mean black and white type things but to someone else it may mean early 2000's romcoms.
Me too - I would like 30s - 50s films mainly. Talking Pictures tv available online would be great.

@phishy

foreigners like you

Apart from the fact that that comment is totally unacceptable in any circumstances, would you care to explain how a UK citizen that leaves the UK to live in another country is a "foreigner"?

Most of the people on here who live abroad are saying that they are perfectly happy to pay in order to access iPlayer etc, but there is no way to actually do this.

@rifling it's with my TV subscription from T-Mobile in the Netherlands. There's an option to pay extra to get more British channels.

@phishy most Europeans can get BBC1 and BBC2 completely free. We can also get German and French public channels.

@rifling

It does really annoy me that foreigners like you (you have now left the UK) are watching for free whilst we have to pay a TV license. 1) Leaving the UK doesn't make you a foreigner 2) As I have explained, I am NOT watching for free as I want to pay!

Well people are telling you you can watch for free with a VPN and you asked for the VPN details.

@phishy

It does really annoy me that foreigners like you (you have now left the UK) are watching for free whilst we have to pay a TV license.

I do hope they abolish the TV license soon and set up a subscription service so you can pay for yourselves.

I pay taxes and a full year of NI every year to pay for your health service mate, so do one.

And VPNs aren't free.

I pay taxes and a full year of NI every year to pay for your health service mate, so do one.

You don't pay for a TV license though.

And VPNs aren't free.

Just because you pay for a VPN it doesn't make it a payment for a TV license though.

The BFI has an online film service you can pay a subscription for. I'm not sure if that would be available there? They do free trials to try if you are able to get it.
Or there are some online websites which stream only very old films and claim to be legal due to their licenses expiring. I'm never sure how true that is. And again you'd need to check you could access them there.

Well people are telling you you can watch for free with a VPN and you asked for the VPN details.

Not that it's any of your business, but it occurred to me (thanks to this thread and a bit of googling) that with a VPN I could legitimately pay for and use Britbox - which you don't need a licence for but which presumably pays some money to the BBC. I repeatedly said that I wanted to find a legitimate way to watch British programmes - but don't let that get in the way of your "forriners are cheats" narrative. Laughable.

The BFI has an online film service you can pay a subscription for.
Thanks. I'll look into that.

@rifling

To me old films mean black and white type things but to someone else it may mean early 2000's romcoms. Me too - I would like 30s - 50s films mainly. Talking Pictures tv available online would be great.

Talking Pictures TV recently launched an online service [free]

www.tptvencore.co.uk/

Thanks!

Ciao, I'm in Italy too, not so much for old films, but for daily telly I've been using TV Mucho tvmucho.com for years. You can have an hour a day free, or pay less than €100 per year, there's an app or browser version. Also there is a record option too.

I also use a paid VPN (Nord) for iPlayer, ITV Hub, Channel 4 player etc.

Amazon Firestick is great too.

Thanks!