Watching ITV abroad - ITV Outside the UK

Being anonymous and having your browsing encrypted and protected is a great feeling. But there are multiple other reasons that using a proxy server is useful, and here's yet another one - watching the UK ITV abroad.

ITV is the UK number one commercial station and it has often got some great dramas and fantastic shows. For those of us brought up in the UK there are lots of soaps that are actually older than we are! But as usual watching ITV outside the UK is not straight forward as your IP Address again dictates what you can watch - well already on this blog I've shown users of Identity Cloaker how they can watch BBC Iplayer, Hulu and Pandora from any country on the planet, I've also added some other options on how you can Watch UK TV. This time it's the turn of ITV - so if you want to watch Emmerdale Farm and Coronation Street on your computer you have come to the right place.

Watching ITV Player Abroad - Stage one

Interesting enough you get a variety of error messages when trying to access ITV programmes online from outside the UK. Initially I used the standard Identity Cloaker Program to connect to a UK Based proxy (at the time I was in France) but that seemed to have some problems with the ITV flash player (Silverlight)

Increasingly the standard use of proxies is being blocked by many such media sites, Hulu the big US media site also blocks the use of proxies. Ironically this actually causes people problems even when they are in the correct country as many people search through a company proxy by default.



Well anyway I was very keen to hear our new singing Diva the unlikely Susan Boyle performed in the next round of the 'Britains Got Talent' programme. So I did persevere.

Is ITV Outside the UK - Possible ?

When you have a little configuration problem with proxies or streaming content, the safest way to get round this is to use a VPN. A VPN is a virtual private network, if you connect to a server via a VPN server then not only is everything you do encrypted and protected (including emails, messages and browsing) but your connection looks identical to a a connection from that server.

How to Start OpenVPN from Identity Cloaker


When you VPN to a UK server then you will look exactly like a UK user, so it's a matter of picking the correct server. Now setting up a VPN tunnel can be a little fiddly but fortunately if you use Identity Cloaker is fairly simple. All you need to do is fire up the Open VPN client from Identity Cloaker and pretty soon you'll see this screen.



Log in to your Identity Cloaker account and you can connect to a selection of proxy servers. To watch ITV abroad you'll obviously need a UK server and from that point all your browsing will be redirected through that secure proxy server.

The result you will soon be watching ITV on your computer irrespective of where you are in the world. You can even install Identity Cloaker on a USB stick and run it from any computer wherever you are. Great for those of us who travel, sit down at a computer anywhere and watch your home TV programmes - ITV abroad - no problem at all.

You can also find further information on how to watch ITV in Spain here in this video.
Why not test it yourself here10 days of ITV with the Identity Cloaker trial to check it works - for the price of a coffee and sandwich you'll be impressed I'm sure! If you have any problems there's also a 14 day money back guarantee as well, the OpenVPn connection takes a couple of clicks and no technical knowledge to allow you to watch ITV abroad.

M6 Replay, French Proxy but Not in France

One of the things I love with this blog is the little stories I get from people trying to accessing different sites, they want to know if anonymous surfing can help them. From desperate Formula One fans stuck in the middle of nowhere who want to watch a certain race, to Rugby and Football fans all over the world. Well here's the latest one I got an email from a French chap working in Nigeria who was kinda homesick. What he wanted to access was a media site called M6 Replay, and he wanted to know if Identity Cloakers French Proxy would help him access this site. Well I always make sure I check these sites before answering, Identity Cloaker can usually help you get access if they have a server in the right country but I always like to check myself.

On a side note I should also mention, that remember Identity Cloaker is a security product, it's designed to encrypt and protect your connection when you're online. However encryption can slightly slow down your browsing, it's normally not noticeable but with video streaming like M6 replay it can have an impact - so always use the encryption off button when you're watching video online. So following on from my posts about watching Hulu, Pandora, BBC Iplayer, ITV and a few others here's the next installment as we move to a French proxy.

So can I Watch M6 Replay Outside France?

Now this site is actually very slick, the user interface is simple but impressive. It is run by M6 the second largest commercial broadcaster in France. Basically it's very similar set up to BBC Iplayer designed to allow viewers to catch up with their favorite M6 shows online. You seem to have about 14 days after a show has broadcast to view but after that it disappears from the site. But do you need a French Proxy to watch the station?

Well I'm not exactly sure, but I think you do - here's me trying to access a show called Medium on the M6 Replay site.  Now normally I'd expect some sort of apology message about my location here, but all that seemed to happen was, well nothing, it just didn't work.  The screenshot is from IE 7 accessing M6 from the UK.

Time to Try a French Proxy

Something not quite right here, so I fired up Identity Cloaker and selected a French Proxy server.  Now currently there is only one French server in the Identity Cloaker proxy network, so it doesn't look like there's great demand there yet (there are loads of UK and US proxies).  Here's a screenshot from the Identity Cloaker main screen, remember to make sure you disable the encryption when watching video streaming.

I've highlighted the encryption setting, and you can see the French Proxy in the main screen.  It's pretty quick for me but  I would advice checking through the trial or speaking to Identity Cloaker directly before spending money on the full subscription.

Anyway I selected Le Proxy, and connected through that server.  (I have no idea if a proxy should be masculine or feminine - I just guessed!)

This is the simplest way to bypass the geo-restriction that these media sites use, so I was hoping this would work.   All my browsing now would be sent via a French Proxy server, so hopefully M6 Replay would allow me to watch the content now.

After connecting, you can see how most sites on the internet manipulate what you see depending on your location, because I appear to originate from France, I now get Google.FR displayed.

So remember if you do any searching when connected to a different proxy server you'll get results tailored to that location.

It can be quite interesting to see what results a Google search in the US , Sweden or France will reveal but if you're googling for a local plumber it can also be very annoying !

Anyway I digress, the mission was to access M6 Replay site so I reconnected to see if I had better luck masquerading as a Frenchman through my French proxy.

Well this time it just worked, I got no warning or messages, and after the advertisement at the beginning of the show - it just started streaming.  Performance was fine but remember I am in the UK so not so far away from the French Proxy servers, although I do have a very slow internet connection as well - I suggest testing with the trial first though - 10 day trial

Here's a video demonstration that's currently on YouTube.

The M6 Replay site was actually very impressive, it's very easy to use and some excellent shows on there.   I have been letting my kids watch some of the French kids TV shows on there to help with their languages.  I haven't used it extensively though yet so will update this post with my experiences and a video shortly.

Let me know if you need help accessing any channels though, I'm happy to test them on my Identity Cloaker subscription, they currently have a variety of proxy servers in Germany, Holland, UK, Ireland, USA, Canada and Sweden in addition to the proxies in France.

Having Trouble Watching the BBC Outside the UK ?

I travel a lot and when away there are two main Internet sites that cheer me up without fail - BBC IPlayer and Pandora. Unfortunately using the BBC outside the UK and Pandora outside the US are actually quite tricky because they will only work with a UK or US workstation respectively.

Fortunately because I always surf through a secure proxy on the Identity Cloaker network, this doesn't really matter to me as my location is defined by whichever proxy I am surfing through. So I simply select a UK server for watching BBC IPlayer abroad.

Identity Cloaker is the most sophisticated security software on the internet, it allows you to surf completely protected via a network of private proxies across the planet. These are fast, secure properly run proxy servers not the free slow ones infested with viruses that people normally try to use !! You might have also seen the dedicated VPN and proxy servers promoted to watch the BBC or other online TV stations - they are very often simply a single server set up quickly.  Why? Simply because when the BBC legal department threaten them (which they usually do), they end up disappearing suddenly.

So when I am in Turkey and want to watch  - I simply connect via a UK proxy and watch BBC Iplayer, if I want to listen to Pandora outside the US I just select one of the US proxies. It doesn't matter where I am as long as I have a working internet connection, because it's encrypted I can watch from anywhere.  The same goes for a TV channels in lots of other countries as they have Australian, Canadian, German, French, Irish and a host of other proxies in addition to the huge number of UK servers.

Anyway I have made this rather bad video to illustrate how I access the BBC Iplayer abroad. I'm afraid I don't do the ease of this any justice with my video though, the best thing about the Identity Cloaker to access these programs is the huge choice of proxies and their speed. If you've ever tried using Iplayer through a free proxy you'll realise how painful it can be.

Using BBC Iplayer Anywhere

I've never used the video software before so apologies for the amateurish video editing. I just wanted to make sure people were able to see how easy it is to use this security software. There are dedicated services for just watching BBC Iplayer that cost well over twice the price of Identity Cloaker, they offer just a single proxy server to do this - Identity cloaker has proxies all over the planet and dedicated software to control and protect your connection, from an icon in your taskbar.

It takes a minute or so to install and then you just point and click.

*** You can actually watch BBC Iplayer on your TV through most gaming consoles now, the Wii works great with Identity Cloaker straight onto your TV, read my post here Wii Iplayer ***

*** Identity Cloaker now has a facility to turn off encryption, you can use this to speed up video streaming such BBC Iplayer from the UK Proxies ***

It is actually a fundamental point of using a proxy abroad, your IP address defines who you are and what you can see. So if you surf via a UK proxy this is how any web server you visit will see you also exactly the same as a UK Internet surfer. Because Identity Cloaker has fast proxies in lots of other countries you can use it to access similar restricted broadcasts in Sweden, Germany, France, Canada, US and many others. If you like music try Pandora for an awesome US only radio station - just select the right countries proxy and you'll be away.

Of course you can use this method by using a free proxy but most are unsuitable for watching videos from BBC Iplayer outside the UK as they are so slow, but PLEASE remove the proxy before you start doing any other surfing remember free proxies are mostly hacked servers and your details are not safe being passed through them !

So can you use BBC Iplayer anywhere?

Pretty much, as long as you pick one the UK proxies, it manages your connection in the background and encrypts you connection. You can even run it from a USB stick if you remember to take your login details with you, watch it through firewalls and when countries try to censor what you watch.

If you travel a lot it also means you can access lots of other sites which have country restrictions stopping you watching the BBC IPlayer abroad. For instance I can access UK poker and casino sites from the States who would normally block an American IP address, Turkey often block Youtube and social networking sites but Identity Cloaker users just bypass this.

Anyway I'm off to Turkey in a few weeks and I'll be keeping up with all the latest BBC programs watching BBC IPlayer abroad via Identity Cloaker.

In a few minutes you can be watching your favourite BBC shows through a safe, fast and secure proxy

If you like to watch or listen to any UK TV shows and you spend any amount of time abroad, you'll find it a fantastic investment. The software is simple to work and you just pick a proxy to connect to and off you go, remember free proxies are very slow and many are full of viruses. If you do manage to find a safe, fast free proxy server to watch the BBC Iplayer on, chances are it will be gone in a day or so.

The ability to watch media is not advertised on the web site but drop them a line if you want to check, the support staff are very responsive and will check out problems with any channels - BBC is pretty straight forward but ITV, Channel 4 and some US channels need to use the Open VPN settings in the program. Be very careful of companies who do advertise this TV facility openly, they frequently disappear overnight, after legal threats from the media companies themselves i.e.  BBC, Hulu and ITV etc.

Why not treat yourself here to 10 days of the BBC Iplayer with the Identity Cloaker trial to check it works - for the price of a coffee and sandwich you'll be impressed I'm sure!

For those who want to use Identity Cloaker with an Ipad, Iphone or Ipod outside the UK then here are the instructions - Using Iplayer on an Ipad abroad