Streaming TV - Overview

The BBC (and other providers of content, but we’ll use the term BBC for this explanation) have restrictions on where their programs can be watched. This is partly a licensing matter (as they buy in content) and partly commercial. Whatever the reason, they go to great lengths to make sure only those located in their service area can use online services.

They do this using geolocation services - basically checking the IP address of the subscriber, along with other more subtle checks such as checking time zones on smart TV Apps, to decide whether to allow the user to view the program or not. Your public IP address is determined by your internet provider and if you’re using a French internet service then the BBC will see you are in France! You can see your public IP address here.

VPN and DNS proxy services attempt to make you appear to be elsewhere by routing your requests via a computer located within the service area for the provider in question. VPNs and DNS Proxys work in different ways but the end result is the same for the purposes of watching overseas TV. For simplicity, we’ll just refer to VPNs here. You can read more about solutions for VPNs and DNS Proxys here.

Typically you sign up for a VPN service and the company provides lots of computers in various countries. You decide which one to use depending on what you want to watch - UK TV, American TV etc.

Whenever you make a request for a web page, or any other internet activity such as connecting to iPlayer from your smart TV, the computer that services your request has to know who you are (your IP address) in order to send the reply back to you.  A VPN is a connection to a computer (located in another country for the purposes here) through which all your requests are routed, making you appear to be in that country. Your replies are routed back the same way.

All good so far - iPlayer thinks you are in Britain and the program is streamed to you. However, the BBC and, particularly, Channel 4 are not silly. They know most people have a one or a few TVs in their home and therefore on the same public IP address. When their systems see a computer (the VPN server) watching several thousand programmes at the same time they can see this is suspicious. The IP address of the VPN server is (automatically) blocked and, if you are watching via that server, you get a message telling you that VPNs are not allowed.

As fast as the BBC block servers, the VPN providers bring new IP addresses online, so from the BBC’s point of view it’s a bit like the ‘whack a mole’ game. However, it can be an inconvenience having to choose a new server and setting everything up again when it happens.

Another issue with the VPN approach is one of performance. Because the VPN is encrypting data in both directions, which is not a trivial task, the computer can slow down when a lot of users are enjoying their evening viewing causing buffering, blocking and other annoying speed related problems.