The Open returns to Royal Birkdale this week, with championship play running from Thursday 16 to Sunday 19 July 2026 — the 154th playing of golf's oldest major, and the eleventh time the Southport links has hosted it. Championship play is now under way, with the field set. Four days of championship golf, the Claret Jug on the line, and for UK viewers the live coverage sits with Sky Sports.

For British expats, second-home owners and travellers, that's where watching from abroad gets tricky. Unlike Wimbledon or the World Cup on the BBC, The Open's live UK television coverage is a paid Sky service — and taking that service overseas brings its own set of problems.

The good news: with the right setup in place, your Sky coverage works abroad exactly as it does at home — on your actual TV, in full quality, with no buffering. And with the weekend still to come, there's still time to be watching well before the Claret Jug is handed over on Sunday.

Where The Open 2026 Is Being Shown in the UK

In the UK, live television coverage of The Open 2026 is exclusive to Sky Sports, available through:

• Sky Stream
• Sky Go
• NOW (via a day or monthly pass, no full Sky subscription needed)

The BBC holds free-to-air television highlights rather than live play — but don't write it off, because it carries live ball-by-ball radio commentary of all four rounds, on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds. It's live, it's subscription-free, and it runs the length of the championship.

So there are two ways to follow the championship as it happens: live television on Sky — Sky Go, Sky Stream or NOW — or live radio across the BBC, with no subscription needed. The catch is the same for every one of them: they're geo-blocked the moment you're outside the UK, and that includes BBC Sounds.

Why Sky Won't Work Abroad (And Why Most VPNs Don't Fix It)

If you already pay for Sky, you might expect to simply log in from your holiday home or while travelling. But Sky Stream, Sky Go and NOW all check your connection to confirm you're in the UK — and overseas, access is blocked. Since Brexit ended EU portability, even the old "watch on a short trip" allowance no longer applies, so a quick golfing break leaves you locked out of coverage you're already paying for.

The obvious fix — a VPN app — usually disappoints. The big-name providers like ExpressVPN, NordVPN and Surfshark route you through commercial data-centre servers that UK streaming services recognise and block on sight. Worse, many struggle with the bandwidth a live sports stream demands, so you get buffering at the worst possible moment — like the closing holes on Sunday. We explain why these providers fail in our guide on why ExpressVPN, NordVPN and Surfshark are blocked by UK streaming.

The Reliable Way to Watch The Open 2026 Abroad

The most reliable way to watch The Open abroad is a VPN router with a UK residential IP address.

A residential IP is the same kind of connection a real UK household uses. To Sky Stream, Sky Go and Now, you simply look like a viewer sitting at home in Britain — no flags, no blocks. Because the router handles the connection at network level, every device behind it gets the UK connection automatically, with nothing to install or reconfigure on each screen.

This setup works reliably for watching The Open 2026 from:

• France
• Spain
• Portugal
• Ireland
• Italy
• Germany
• And other countries worldwide

Watching The Open on a Proper TV Setup

A major like The Open deserves the big screen, not a phone propped on a table — but it is worth knowing what runs where. NOW is the one that goes everywhere: Smart TVs, Apple TV, Firestick, games consoles and most streaming boxes.

Sky Go is narrower — phone, tablet or computer, plus Apple TV (which needs Sky Q Multiscreen or Sky Glass and Stream Whole Home, and caps Sky Sports at 720p) and games consoles, where Sky Go Extra on its own is enough. And a Sky Stream puck plays on whatever TV you plug it into. With a residential-IP router behind them, all three carry on working abroad.

A quick but important word on Sky Stream pucks. They work with our VPN routers — you connect your existing puck and it behaves as it would at home.

There's one thing to know: Sky's Additional Location Charge. The simplest way to avoid it is to keep your puck connected to one of our VPN routers at all times, even in the UK, so Sky always sees the same consistent connection and you can move the puck freely. Our full guide to watching Sky Stream abroad explains exactly how this works.

For shorter trips and holiday homes, Sky Go is the easier route: it's app-based, so there's no puck to move and nothing to unplug at home. And if you'd rather not use a Sky account abroad at all, the NOW-on-PLEIO option below sidesteps the issue entirely.

No Sky Subscription? Watch The Open with a Netgem PLEIO and a NOW Pass

You don't need a full Sky package to follow The Open. NOW — Sky's streaming service — sells a Sports Day Membership (24 hours) and a cancel-anytime Sports Month Membership, both carrying all 12 Sky Sports channels, and the Netgem PLEIO Freely TV box can run the NOW app directly.

One thing worth knowing: a Day Membership on its own streams at 720p, in stereo, on one device — you can't add Boost to a day pass alone.

The PLEIO brings Freely and the popular UK services together in one Android-based interface, with Google Play on the device — so alongside your NOW pass you also get BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 in one place. Paired with a residential-IP router, it all works abroad just as it would at home.

Because a NOW pass isn't tied to your home Sky account or broadband, it's the simplest, fee-free way to watch The Open abroad — no pucks to relocate, no Additional Location Charge to worry about.

We Supply the Complete Setup — Shipped Worldwide

At Stream UK TV Abroad, we supply Netgem PLEIO and Manhattan Aero Freely TV boxes alongside our pre-configured VPN routers, giving you a complete setup for watching UK TV abroad. For The Open specifically, the PLEIO is the one to choose if you want live coverage without a Sky subscription, since it runs the NOW app; the Aero is a great Freely box for everyday UK channels and BBC highlights, but doesn't carry NOW.

Most UK retailers won't ship Freely boxes internationally — here's how we get one to you wherever you are: Buy a Freely TV Box Abroad. If you'd like to compare the two boxes, our Manhattan Aero vs Netgem PLEIO guide breaks down the differences.

A typical setup looks like this:

• Your existing internet connection abroad
• A pre-configured VPN router using a UK residential IP
• Your Sky Stream puck, a Smart TV, or a Netgem PLEIO running NOW
• Live Open coverage via Sky Stream, Sky Go or a NOW pass

Once set up, you can watch every round of The Open 2026 live, just as if you were in the UK.

Still Time for the Weekend — and the Claret Jug

Interest in UK TV abroad spikes sharply around every major event — and that's exactly the wrong time to start solving streaming problems, when detection is most aggressive and demand is highest.

Championship play is under way at Royal Birkdale and runs to the Claret Jug presentation on Sunday 19 July. If you're ordering to a UK address before you travel, DPD is usually next-day, so you can be set up and tested in time for the weekend's decisive rounds. If you're in Europe, a router ordered today may not reach you in time for the weekend — UPS Express typically takes 1–3 working days from dispatch.

Further afield, delivery will likely land after the final putt — so it is worth ordering with what comes next in mind rather than this week's golf. The Commonwealth Games open in Glasgow on 23 July and run to 2 August, and the Tour de France has the Alps and then Paris on 26 July. Both are comfortably within reach.

Following the rest of the summer too? See our guides to watching the World Cup 2026 abroad — the final is on 19 July — and the Commonwealth Games 2026 abroad, which start in Glasgow on 23 July.

Final Thoughts

The Open 2026 at Royal Birkdale is one of the highlights of the British sporting summer, and there's no reason to miss a moment of it from abroad.

Whether you're an existing Sky customer or prefer a flexible NOW pass on a Netgem PLEIO, the most reliable approach is the same: a SmartHub VPN router (with a genuine UK residential IP) that makes your UK services work overseas exactly as they do at home. One setup, your full Sky coverage, live from the first round to the Claret Jug presentation — wherever you are in the world.

For international orders we generally use UPS Express, keeping delivery and customs clearance as fast and hassle-free as possible; UK orders ship with DPD, usually next-day after dispatch (a few remote areas, like the north of Scotland, can take a little longer) — so you're set up in good time.

Watch The Open 2026 Abroad Without Missing a Shot