Broadband content is expensive for the BBC to stream. The BBC has therefore decided to limit access to the BBC broadband content to people in the UK in order to ensure best value for the UK licence fee. In addition, there are often broadcast rights restrictions which means that content intended for a UK audience should not be made available overseas.

Regrettably we are therefore unable to offer you broadband content at this time. We would like to apologise for any disappointment. You could, however, refer to the BBC World Service and to other BBC associated international services (e.g. BBC World, BBC World Service, BBC America etc.) There may be commercial providers who have deals with the BBC in your particular territory.

Additionally, we are considering offering a subscription service for overseas users, although this is not likely to be available in the immediate future.

I'm a UK licence fee payer currently overseas how do I access BBC Broadband content?

As we have said above, Broadband content is expensive for the BBC to stream. The BBC has therefore decided to limit access to the BBC broadband content to people in the UK in order to ensure best value for the UK licence fee.

Regrettably we do not have the infrastructure to allow UK residents (only) to access these services whilst abroad, in the same way as much of our TV / Radio content cannot be accessed overseas.

We apologise for any disappointment, but hope we have your understanding.

I'm in the UK but you're telling me I'm not!

Please accept our apologies for any confusion caused by this error message. We limit the use of BBC Broadband content, for reasons listed above and detailed in the FAQ link below.

Regrettably our systems are currently unable to confirm whether an IP address that is not on our database is UK based or not. Consequently, when an IP address is not recognised, you see the message stating that you are not in the UK, such as this. Please accept our apologies for this. We are currently working on a solution which will display a more meaningful message.

For more details on all of the above please go to BBC Broadband FAQs