How to watch BBC and other English TV channels

[lazuli 25]

I live in Munich. When I first connected my new flat screen to the cable(already supplied for the entire block of apartments), it first scanned for channels. After 15 mins or so, it came back with nearly 200 of them (with about 20 digitals and the rest analog), clearly listed, numbered and labelled, and including BBC World, BBC1, BBC2, Bio, CBBC (for those with kids), all the SKY movies channels, and a lot of other foreign channels.

 

Unfortunately, when trying to view any them, they turned out to be all scrambled, except for BBC world and CNN. I then contacted the cable company (in my case, "Kabel & Medien Service"), with the hope that I could access the scrambled channels for a fee. Instead they sent me a list of premium packages I could buy, but the only one with English channels was still restricted to ... GOD TV and Sky News! So no BBC channels or SKY on offer.

 

Does anyone know how it can be that foreign TV channels seem to be available at first but there is no cable company that allows them to be watched? or is there any?

 

Thanks

Lazuli.

[Acton 798]

No answers to this I see, but here's another question.

We have BBC World on our Cable TV system here in Berlin. It's PYOR and seems to be the only option we have at the moment.

Over recent months, the audio reception has begun to break up, Sometimes it's so bad that it isn't possible to understand anything.

Does anyone else have this problem and maybe a solution? It only happens on the BBC World channel. The others are fine.

 

Thanks for any help.

[black1 1,658]

Change to Telekom and their international package.

[Acton 798]

You usually know what you're ralking about Black! Could you be more specific please? Does this package have a name?

[Magmax 231]

There are some streaming sites.

[Magmax 231]

Or  try with a big satelite dish to get a UK spot beam of ASTRA 2

[Acton 798]

Thanks. But we live on the groung floor of a 6 storey block of flats.

[LukeSkywalker 6,197]

I have M-Net cable in Munich like the rest in my building. I also receive CNBC Europe, Al Jazeera, Russia Today (RT), France 24 (in English), Bloomberg. Mainly news channels, but also SRF 2, RSI LA 1 and 2. These Swiss channels often show movies and series in English. Also, free Champions League football on Wednesdays with a top match. No package, just standard cable. Spread the word!

 

For a satellite dish I need permission from the Hausverwaltung which I will not get.

[black1 1,658]

15 hours ago, Acton said:

You usually know what you're ralking about Black! Could you be more specific please? Does this package have a name?

Hi Acton,

They offer BBC World News in their satellite package.

http://www.senderinfo.de/MagentaTV_Sat.pdf - page 2, 3rd column

 

I think they used to offer BBC Entertainment too but I can't see this. I don't really watch TV so much as Blu rays and Amazon/Netflix.

To see the 'two channel' English options on extra bookable channels  in that PDF look for the little symbol that looks like glasses to the right . That starts from page 5, immediately with Big TV section, first option Kanal 200 - little symbol to the right. There are a lot of channels with that.

 

You could also stream BBC World News through other providers

https://www.netzwelt.de/tv-sender/bbc-world-news.html#bbc-world-news_streaming

[SpiderPig 9,587]

https://planetnews.com/live/bbc-news.html

 

If you get an android TV box, then its like a real tv veiwing experience... 

[orsonbuggy 2]

I have the same problem in Cologne with cable and no chance of adding a satellite dish. To circumvent this and watch TV programs such as BBC1, I use my computer with a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to bypass any georestrictions. 

 

. After installing the VPN on your computer, chose the country where you want to watch TV and connect to it.

. Google BBC or whatever you fancy and follow their procedures to see their programs.

. Connect the computer to your usual TV screen with an HDMI cable.

 

"Le VPN" is a reliable VPN and costs about 5 Euros a month.

[weejer 168]

SmartDNS has been my solution for last 7 yrs!

[yesterday 1,136]

6 hours ago, orsonbuggy said:

I have the same problem in Cologne with cable and no chance of adding a satellite dish. To circumvent this and watch TV programs such as BBC1, I use my computer with a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to bypass any georestrictions. 

 

. After installing the VPN on your computer, chose the country where you want to watch TV and connect to it.

. Google BBC or whatever you fancy and follow their procedures to see their programs.

. Connect the computer to your usual TV screen with an HDMI cable.

 

"Le VPN" is a reliable VPN and costs about 5 Euros a month.

 

 

I am with Spiderpig on this one

 

Buy a firestick about 40 euro's

 

Configure your VPN on the firestick

 

Sit in a comfy chair and watch TV on your TV, while holding the remote to change channels etc -- No more cables 

[Sir Percy B 1,231]

On 16/11/2020, 16:32:59, Acton said:

No answers to this I see, but here's another question.

We have BBC World on our Cable TV system here in Berlin. It's PYOR and seems to be the only option we have at the moment.

Over recent months, the audio reception has begun to break up, Sometimes it's so bad that it isn't possible to understand anything.

Does anyone else have this problem and maybe a solution? It only happens on the BBC World channel. The others are fine.

 

Thanks for any help.

 

FFS, exactly what era do you live in?  oh I forgot you live in Pankow, never mind we'll save that for another thread, get yourself an Amazon Firestick and a smart dns connection and you'll get BBC, ITV and All4 etc.

[Uncle Jamal 125]

Or...get one of the new chromecasts from Google, install a VPN (you'll need a subscription), set it to Switzerland and then use Zattoo to watch all FTA UK channels at no further cost.

[Acton 798]

On 19.11.2020, 00:24:55, Sir Percy B said:

 

FFS, exactly what era do you live in?  oh I forgot you live in Pankow, never mind we'll save that for another thread, get yourself an Amazon Firestick and a smart dns connection and you'll get BBC, ITV and All4 etc.

FFS?? What is your problem?

[weejer 168]

Also LG have the ability to add all the UK apps direct https://www.lg.com/us/experience-tvs/smart-tv/enjoy and you can swap counties to allow you to have all the UK (C4OD, ITVPlay, IPlayer, C5 etc... ) plus ZDF/RTL/Zatoo.  I use this along with SmartDNS via an apple time capsule with 100mps download. 

[kaffeemitmilch 901]

Wait, can you configure the VPN on the Fire Stick itself. or would it have to be in the router to which the stick connects? Can this be done in the Chromecast? I just ordered the new one.

 

At the moment, I have two routers, one with the VPN option to which the Chromecast is connected. It's annoying, but the best option I could find.

 

Is the free Zattoo option good enough for all the channels?

 

Edit: nevermind, I realized I was on the German page. I see the Swiss option is great. Thanks! Still curious about the VPN configuration options.

[yesterday 1,136]

2 hours ago, kaffeemitmilch said:

Wait, can you configure the VPN on the Fire Stick itself. or would it have to be in the router to which the stick connects? Can this be done in the Chromecast? I just ordered the new one.

 

At the moment, I have two routers, one with the VPN option to which the Chromecast is connected. It's annoying, but the best option I could find.

 

Is the free Zattoo option good enough for all the channels?

 

Edit: nevermind, I realized I was on the German page. I see the Swiss option is great. Thanks! Still curious about the VPN configuration options.

 

 

With the fire stick, you would need to jail break the stick to add a VPN .

 

Or if you have pureVPN for example ( like me ), you can just down load an app for the stick, you can configure it with the fie stick hand controller just like any other app, I know some other VPN companies has this as well, but do not know which ones. Means I do not need 2 routers any more

[SpiderPig 9,587]

6 hours ago, kaffeemitmilch said:

Wait, can you configure the VPN on the Fire Stick itself.

https://www.expressvpn.com/support/vpn-setup/setup-amazon-fire-stick-fire-tv/