Another (free) way to watch British and Irish TV

[Biggles]

I don't know how long this has been on the go but I've only just discovered it when helping an Irish friend who wanted to watch RTE but it works for BBC iPlayer, Sky Go (if you have an account), Hulu etc.

Using Firefox or Chrome go to http://hola.org/ and click the "Start using Hola it's Free" button
It installs as an Addon for Firefox or Chrome.

Once installed (it takes just a few seconds), (you may have to restart Firefox the first time) you first go to your desired site e.g. RTE or BBC iPlayer then click the wee Hola button -
it could be in the top right or bottom right of your browser,
It'll detect which country the site is in and you click on the relevant option.
The Hola button will change  to the flag of the country you've selected and you just refresh the page to carry on.

So far it works every time for RTE, BBC and Sky Go.


P.S. When trying to watch Love/Hate on the normal Rte Player http://www.rte.ie/player/ie/
it stuck during the ads but using the beta RTE Player XL http://www.rte.ie/playerxl/#s=home
it played the show without ads.

[beachlife]

Works on BBC iplayer for watching programs but doesn`t work for me when I try to download a program.

However a useful find as a backup to expat shield.

[Biggles]

Yup - download with BBC iPlayer just hangs and never gets going.

For BBC iPlayer downloads use (the free) Tunlr http://tunlr.net/
That works fine.

Tunlr doesn't work for Irish Tv so best use the Hola add-on for that.

However a useful find as a backup to expat shield.

I'm on a mac but I thought Expat Shield was now no longer free.

[Brightspark]

I'm still amazed that in 2013 Iplayers etc are geo locked.

[Biggles]

I'm still amazed that in 2013 Iplayers etc are geo locked.

I know what you mean BS but mostly I think it's down to rights issues.

e.g. BBC will have paid the US for the UK&NI rights of certain programmes on the understanding that they only provide that programme within the UK&NI.
If they make it available in Spain then whoever bought the rights for that programme in Spain e.g. Canal + would be understandably miffed.

Even for home grown programmes like Peaky Blinders, the BBC will have sold the rights for that programme to other countries so the e.g. Spanish procurers will be miffed if it's available online having paid for the rights.

With more and more people like us circumventing the geoblocking they are going to have to come up with another system.
Perhaps one day some mega company will buy the worldwide rights for all the programmes we watch and sub-let them to BBC, Canal + etc. but making them available online worldwide for a fee or through an advertising basis.

In the meantime, Tunlr and the Hola add-on circumvents it just fine 

[Brightspark]

You touched on a few points there that are very valid, and in the grand scheme of things I understand why they do it.
With things like this though I always think it's just greed and fatcats working off extinct business models.
Look at film piracy for example, before the whole Netflix etc jumped on the bandwagon, the Hollywood fatcats were just sitting back for years reaping in the profits, until one day they realised that "oh damn people are downloading films via the internet!!!", they cried for a bit, then adapted to save their backsides, hence the creation of Netflix amongst many others.

This to me is a very similar scenario, they know damn well people will always get round geo locators etc, so why not adapt instead of trying to fight it.

[bedouin]

... they know damn well people will always get round geo locators etc, so why not adapt instead of trying to fight it.

Most people wouldn't bother trying to get around it, they'd just shrug and accept it.

[Deso]

Have you tried it on tvcatchup.com ?

They seem to have a more sophisticated geoblock system.

[Biggles]

Have you tried it on tvcatchup.com ?

They seem to have a more sophisticated geoblock system.

I've just tried it with Firefox and Chrome on a mac and No - it doesn't work.

[Deso]

Thanks Biggles, I think they only allow IP's from UK ISP's.

Shame really as everything is in one place and easy to navigate.

[Florence]

The BBC currently has a programme channel for overseas viewers but it is not very good.  In time they will be launching an overseas iplayer which will be free, but you will have to put up with advertising.