The Open 2026 was played at Royal Birkdale from Thursday 16 to Sunday 19 July — the 154th playing of golf's oldest major, and the eleventh time the Southport links has hosted it. Four days of championship golf ended with New Zealand's Ryan Fox lifting the Claret Jug for his first major, and for UK viewers the live coverage sat 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. Get it sorted once and you're ready for The Open every year, and for the rest of the golf season — and the UK sporting calendar — in between.

Where The Open 2026 Was Shown in the UK

In the UK, live television coverage of The Open is exclusive to Sky Sports — a deal running to at least 2028 — 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 were three ways to follow the championship as it happened: live television on Sky — Sky Go, Sky Stream or NOW — live radio across the BBC, or the R&A's own Open Radio, carried free on talkSPORT 2 and on air from 07:00, four hours before 5 Live joined. The last two needed no subscription at all.

The catch is the same for all three: 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 EU allowance for short trips 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 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 go through the mechanics in our guide on why ExpressVPN, NordVPN and Surfshark are blocked by UK streaming.

The Reliable Way to Watch The Open Abroad

It's 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 UK sport 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's 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 games consoles, where Sky Go Extra on its own is enough. Apple TV works too, but it needs Sky Q Multiscreen or Sky Glass and Stream Whole Home, and it caps Sky Sports at 720p. 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 and Sky's Additional Location Charge. Your existing puck works with our VPN routers, just as it would at home — and the simplest way to avoid the charge is to keep it connected to one of our routers, even in the UK, so Sky always sees a consistent connection and you can move it freely. Our full guide to watching Sky Stream abroad explains 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.

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 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 UK sport live and on catch-up, just as if you were in the UK — The Open when it returns, and everything in between.

Set Up Now for the Rest of the Summer

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. Getting set up between events is how you avoid it.

The Open finished at Royal Birkdale on Sunday 19 July, but the summer of sport rolls on — and there's comfortable time to get set up for what's next. The US Open tennis from 30 August is the next big date, with the new Premier League season already under way and plenty more to come.

To a UK address, DPD is usually next-day, so you can order before you travel and take the kit with you.

Following the rest of the summer too? See our guides to the Premier League abroad and the US Open tennis abroad. Looking further ahead, the BBC also has the first World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest from 11 to 13 September.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is The Open on free-to-air TV?

Not the live play. Live UK television coverage of The Open is exclusive to Sky Sports — a deal running to at least 2028 — through Sky Stream, Sky Go or a NOW pass. The BBC carries free-to-air television highlights plus live ball-by-ball radio on 5 Live and BBC Sounds, but for live pictures you need Sky or NOW.

How can I watch The Open abroad?

Your UK coverage travels if your connection looks UK-based. Sky Stream, Sky Go and NOW all block overseas access by IP, so the reliable fix is a VPN router with a UK residential IP: to those services you look like a viewer at home in Britain, in full quality on the big screen.

How do I watch The Open in Spain or another country?

The same way everywhere outside the UK — a UK residential IP on a VPN router unblocks Sky Stream, Sky Go or a NOW pass, whether you are in Spain, Portugal, France, Germany or further afield. A normal VPN app usually gets detected and buffers at the worst moment.

Can I watch The Open abroad without a Sky subscription?

Yes. NOW — Sky's streaming service — sells a 24-hour Sports Day Membership and a cancel-anytime Sports Month Membership, both carrying all 12 Sky Sports channels, and the Netgem PLEIO Freely box runs the NOW app directly. Paired with a residential-IP router, it works abroad with no Sky account and no puck to move.

Final Thoughts

The Open 2026 at Royal Birkdale was one of the highlights of the British sporting summer — and it comes round every year, so there's no reason to miss a moment of the next one 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, wherever you are in the world, and the rest of the sporting calendar comes with it — the Premier League, now under way, the US Open tennis from 30 August, and next year's Open on Sky from the first round to the Claret Jug presentation.

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 UK Sport Abroad Without Missing a Shot