Not Geeky!

Not even that long ago, in the summer of 2007, the BBC started distributing their beta version of IPlayer . I subscribed, and was ‘invited’ to download their iPlayer. These days however it is a lot easier, to just browse to the BBC website and watch the program from there. No need to download, unless you prefer higher quality or want to watch it from a portable player.

Not only the BBC but also ITV has an archive of broadcasted programs. On top of that you can watch live programs. My favorite is Channel 4 though. You can catch-up on one of their programs in their 30-day archive. On top of that they have another huge archive, which requires to download their player. On top of a lot of programs (whole seasons from popular series!!) from the past it also allows you to watch recent movies for a small fee.

However, if you just want to watch live television TV Catchup is great. The name is a bit misleading, because all they offer is live television. It’s 18 different channels though!

Now, if you’re abroad, or you don’t live in the UK at all and you want to watch a program from one of these websites you’ll find that you can’t, because of your foreign IP address. However if you make use of a UK based Proxy Server this is very well possible. There are lot’s of free ones, quite often lousy quality, and paid ones such as VPNGates. For a small monthly fee, this allows you to watch your fav program live. Rumour has it that this works perfectly except for when a new Top Gear Episode is aired.

Enjoy!

Edwin