For many years, British expats and holiday home owners in France, Spain and Portugal have relied on Freesat to watch UK television abroad. A satellite dish, a clear view of the sky, and a UK receiver were once enough to stay connected to home.
At Stream UK TV Abroad, we regularly speak to customers who still use Freesat but are now finding it limiting, unreliable, or simply outdated.
Satellite coverage weakens the further south you go, installations are often restricted, and Freesat offers no access to modern on-demand viewing or Sky content. That’s why more people are switching to Freely — a newer, internet-based alternative that works far better abroad when set up correctly.
While Freesat can still work in parts of Europe, it comes with increasing drawbacks:
For viewers who want flexibility and modern features, Freesat now feels like a compromise.
Freely is the UK’s new free-to-air TV platform, delivered entirely over the internet rather than by satellite.
With Freely, you get:
All you need is a compatible streaming box or television and a UK internet location.
By default, Freely only works inside the UK. Like BBC iPlayer and ITVX, it checks your IP address to confirm where you are.
This is where many people get stuck. VPN apps cannot be installed on many Freely devices, and most commercial VPNs are blocked by UK streaming services anyway.
At Stream UK TV Abroad, we solve this by supplying pre-configured VPN routers that use genuine UK residential IP addresses. These make your internet connection appear exactly like a normal UK home broadband line.
Once connected, Freely works abroad just as it does in the UK.
Freesat
Freely
One major advantage of Freely is that it allows you to go beyond free-to-air channels.
Using NOW, you can optionally subscribe to:
This provides access to Sky content without a dish, long-term contracts, or Sky hardware. When combined with a VPN router from Stream UK TV Abroad using a UK residential IP, NOW works reliably overseas on the same network as Freely.
The most reliable setup looks like this:
Everything connects through the VPN router, so all streaming apps believe you are in the UK.
This is exactly the type of setup we help customers implement every day.
UK Freesat served its purpose for many years, but for viewers in France, Spain and Portugal it is increasingly being replaced by smarter, internet-based solutions.
We offer a complete solution at Stream UK TV Abroad, including Netgem PLEIO Freely TV boxes supplied and configured to work seamlessly with our VPN routers. Everything arrives ready to plug in and use, so you can start watching UK TV abroad straight away.
With Freely, a VPN router using a UK residential IP, and the option to add Sky content through NOW, you can enjoy modern UK television abroad without satellite dishes or technical compromises.
