Paid for
The free ones are very slow, the paid ones such as PureVPN are cheap.
Normally I’d agree with you. Unfortunately though, with Express VPN it seems to be different. Up until now I’d have simply changed servers, and wouldn’t have a problem. However, you can’t get BBC on any of their servers. My experience of them has been very good, and normally they’d have done something like you suggest and set up another server. However, this seems to be impossible at present. They keep on saying that they are working on it, and I’m sure they are, but it’s been going on for about six weeks, so I’m not sure when or if ever they’re going to come up with an answer
I think I’m going to try NordVPN. Most people seem to think that it’s reliable. Thanks for the suggestion.
I can’t help thinking that the whole rights issue is, to a certain extent, a load of baloney. There’s nothing to stop people who use Freesat in European countries recording programmes live. what’s the diffference between than and streaming, or using iPlayer?
British intransigence 
Perhaps when they get their own satellites funded by HMG they can become even more just little Englanders 
I should warn you Tim that it can take a few goes to find a Nordvpn server that works with iPlayer. But as recently al last night I download half a dozen programmes to keep me going.
https://www.howtogeek.com/221929/how-to-choose-the-best-vpn-service-for-your-needs/
and in an earlier thread some time ago from (I think) the illustrious Simon Armstrong: smartdnsproxy
and then this thread:
SmartDNS is still a VPN, but will redirect just the TV services, not your whole internet traffic.
M.O. : Paid. Free one are slow and I think some have ads.
A long term deal with one of the major VPN can be as little as US$3 p.m. This is great if privacy is your principle requirement. It’s a bit of a naus if the VPN can’t access iPlayer after a few weeks/months successful connection.
JS: I appreciate your first point but there are only so many servers based in UK.
I spose UK VPN users aren’t watching territorial rights restricted telly via a VPN. They don’t need to. They won’t be getting the dreaded, ‘This content is not available in your location. It is a rights issue’. If they were, there’d be an almight stink and we’d hear about it.
It would be interesting to hear from anyone based in UK who watches territorial rights restricted telly via a VPN and whether they ever get blocked or not.
PF: I investigated Smart DNS [the comapany] some while ago. At that time it had some problem that made it defective in some way and didn’t work. I tried PureVPN, touted as one of the top performers. It was a disaster - badly unstable, connection to iPlayer constantly dropped out then didn’t work at all. Their c/s told me that they were setting up their own ‘smartDNS’ on their servers as part of the package but it never came across in the time I was with them.
I’m with Surfshark a.t.mo and just accessed iPlayer chop-chop. Trouble is, I don’t like watching TV on my computer monitor, albeit it’s 27".
I now i use paid ones last was Nordvpn I now is not that simple anymore sites like Netflix are coming up with new ways to block people from access different country’s
The problem has been around since the vhs. It is the regional rights that are the problem
It isn’t a Virtual Private Network, it is just a mask
Have you tried an Amazon Firestick? Amazing piece of kit. You attach it to your TV with an hdmi socket so your tv needs to have one of those and you sync it to your wifi router.
Is there anything on UK Television worth watching?
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Loads of things. Repair Shop, Soul America on BBC 4 and the final series of Spral soon (I hope).
Thanks for the suggestion. I’ve actually got chrome cast. Doesn’t that do much the same thing? I’ve got Firestick stuck away in a box somewhere so perhaps I’ll look it out and fiddle about with it.
The problem is that I have a Bbox router, which is incompatible with the VPN provider that I’ve been going on about - Express VPN - and although you can use your own router with Bouyges my techincal competence isn’t at a level where I could install it properly. Also, the BBC won’t allow you in if it detects that you are out of the country, regardless of whether you’re trying to get there via a router, phone, tablet or anything else.
Thanks to an earlier comment I’m trying out Surfshark, which at the moment seems to work okay. However, the root of the problem remains. If the BBC has developed something that blocks Express VPN as effectively as this, perhaps it’s only a metter of time before they turn their attention to other VPN providers. Express VPN were considered to be one of the most reliable services for acessing iPlayer until this happened.
Why is the BBC not available as a subscription service? If they were to charge the equivalent of a UK TV Licence, for example, which is currently £157.50 per year to have access to all the BBC channels and BBC iplayer would anyone be prepared to pay for it?
I imagine someone will tell me there is a technical/legal reason why this is not possible.
Izzy x
I can think of the parallel with use of still images. When selling a photograph, one specifies the use it may be put to and the territories where that use will be permitted.
So ‘BBC TV North-East’, which bought some Geordie band pix of mine for local use and paid all of £6 each - I was mortified - is a different proposition to MCann Erickson Advertising, Coca-Cola, worldwide usage.
The actors, writers and others on the ‘creative’ side would all have to be paid more up front to make the same programmes if these were accessible to territories outside UK, free to air. There will be formulae for how much more everybody gets paid, depending on where the content is available, if it is sold as a package. The Natural History Unit, Bristol, is a gold mine of revenue for the BBC.
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Even if it were it is likely that restrictions on the geographic region where material can be shown would get in the way of watching the Beeb in France.
More articles on the subject - I’m sure if you stick the above query into Google you will find even more arguments (probably both in support and against).
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Very interesting Paul, thanks.
But they are available in territories outside the UK. BBC subscribe,or whatever the equivalent is, to Freeserve/Freesat. I can watch live and record. What’s the difference between that and iPlayer? I hope I’m not sounding provocative, but it’s something I’ve never understood.