How to Watch the Olympic Games From Abroad?

The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, also called informally London 2012, is planned to happen in London, UK, from 27 July (opening ceremony) until 12 August 2012. The event will begin with the group stages in women’s football, two days before the official start, on 25 July. More than 10,000 sportsmen from 204 nationalities will compete during these two weeks. The city of London was chosen during the Singaporean IOC Session in 2005, against Moscow, Madrid, NYC, and Paris. The bid was leaded by former Olympic champion Sebastian Coe and the Mayor of London Ken Livingstone. The capital city thus becomes the first to host three version of the Olympics. The 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games is going to use various new infrastructures, existing and historic facilities, and temporary buildings, some of them in renowned locations such as Hyde Park and Horse Guards Parade. Some of the new facilities will be reused in their Olympic form, while others will be resized or relocated.

The international broadcasting

The official international video will be produced and aired from the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) in London Olympic Park. According to the IOC’s claim to providing over-the-air television coverage to as broad a worldwide audience as possible, London 2012 is planned to be broadcast to several regional and national TV channels. The broadcasting rights have been splitted within the different TV channels. Here is a list of the main broadcaster:

United Kingdom – BBC

The BBC stands as the host broadcaster for the event and Channel 4 the host broadcaster, dedicated for the Paralympics. The BBC aims to air all 5,000 hours of the games on various channels, while much of the current broadcasting is produced by the Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS).

See our dedicated post

United States – NBC

The United States television rights are currently owned by NBC for over half the rights revenue for the IOC. The channel launched a special service for the event: nbcolympics.com

See our dedicated post

Germany – ARD and ZDF

For Germany, the rights have been splitted between both ARD und ZDF channels. These are the only german speaking broadcasters.

See our dedicated post in German

France – France 2 and France 3

Like for other major sport events in France, France Télévisions cover the broadcasting of the Olympic Games. Programs will be splitted between both channels.

See our dedicated post in French

Content restrictions within your country location

The content’s restriction on BBC iPlayer

Expatriates must be aware of the problem: most streaming contents on channel sites are blocked from abroad. Indeed the broadcasting rights are only available for a specific country. Therefore, most TV channels block their users within their country location. Generally you are only able to access to the channel’s site in the country where you live. For example, if you are a British expat living in Germany, you won’t be able to access the BBC iPlayer. The contents are blocked because the site recognizes your IP, and knows that you don’t live in the UK. When you try to stream a video, an error message appears.

How to watch the Olympic Games on any TV channel’s site?

One of the best way to enjoy the Olympic Games from abroad on any channel’s site you wish, is to use a Virtual Private Network. The VPN is a simple app that lets you connect to worldwide servers, that provide new IP. Once the connection is established, you browse under the identity of the server: