If you’re trying to watch SBS On Demand outside Australia, the streaming service won’t work. You’ll come across an error saying, “most of our content is only available to stream within Australia due to publishing rights.”
This error is coming up because SBS On Demand is an Australian streaming service for Australians only.
This can be frustrating but the good news is, there’s a very easy way to get around this error. All you need to do is get an Australian IP address.
This article will explain how to watch SBS On Demand outside Australia by showing you the easiest way to get an Australian IP address.
SBS On Demand is an Australian streaming service that only has the rights to broadcast its content in Australia.
The copyright and licensing agreements that SBS has with its content partners stipulate that SBS can only broadcast its content in the Australian region.
If SBS On Demand breached these agreements it could face severe financial punishments.
To prevent that from happening, SBS blocks anyone outside Australia from accessing its content. These blocks are why SBS On Demand isn’t working in the country you’re in.
How does SBS On Demand block my connection?
When you connect to SBS On Demand the streaming service scans your IP address to figure out where you’re located.
When you go online, your device is given a unique IP address. This IP allows your device to communicate with the website or app you’re going to, in this case, SBS On Demand.
The problem with this is in order for this communication to work, your IP contains information that discloses your physical location.
When SBS On Demand scans your IP address, it can access this information. And if it finds you’re outside of Australia, it’ll block your connection.
How can I get around SBS On Demand’s blocks?
To get around SBS On Demand’s blocks you need to fool it into thinking you’re accessing its service from within Australia. To do that you need to change your IP address to an Australian one.
These VPNs will provide you with an anonymous internet connection and they’ll allow you to gain access to a large number of Australian servers, which will give you an Australian IP address.
Because VPNs are well-known ways of watching SBS On Demand outside Australia, SBS tries to block VPNs from accessing its content.
This is a problem for lesser VPNs, especially free VPNs because they don’t have the ability to get around these blocks.
Good VPNs are able to get around SBS On Demand’s VPN blocking methods, however, bad VPNs struggle to keep up with SBS On Demand and eventually all their IP addresses are blocked and the VPN won’t work.
Not only will this mean you won’t be able to watch SBS On Demand outside Australia, but you could potentially waste money on a subscription for a VPN that won’t work.
SBS On Demand monitors all the IP addresses that connect to its service. Usually, only a household of connections (8-10) will connect to SBS On Demand via the same IP address. Free VPNs have a massive amount of customers and not enough IP addresses to keep up. This means customers using these VPNs are forced to share IP addresses. When SBS On Demand sees more than 10 connections connecting to its service via the same IP it knows that it’s a VPN and it blocks it.
The best VPNs like ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) or NordVPN ($3.49/month) don’t have this problem. They have a massive amount of IP addresses so there’s less chance you’ll share yours with another customer and they also have measures in place to get around SBS On Demand’s blocks. If an IP provided by ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) or NordVPN ($3.49/month) gets blocked by SBS On Demand, these VPNs will close that IP and open a new one.
This will allow you to watch SBS On Demand outside Australia reliably.
Number of servers: 3,000+ | Speed: >80% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 160 in 94 countries | Devices supported: 5 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
$6.66/month for 15 months
$9.99/month for 6 months
$12.95/month for 1 month
ExpressVPN is still the best VPN. And importantly, it ALWAYS has servers that are open with major streaming sites such as Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video etc.
ExpressVPN is usually very good at playing Cat and Mouse with online streaming sites (apart from BBC iPlayer). Meaning, whenever one of its servers is blacklisted it creates a new one – giving its users a constant stream of servers that aren’t blocked. Needless to say, this is a valuable attribute if you’re looking for a VPN to unblock streaming sites.
Its app is easy-to-use and free to download on pretty much any device you can think of. Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, FireStick, Android TV, Roku, PS4, Xbox, Linux, even Apple TV (with a workaround). It’s got it all covered.
The app is another main reason this VPN is so good at unblocking TV streaming sites (that claim they block VPNs) is that its software takes a pragmatic approach to user management. While other VPNs tempt customers by promising them access to hundreds/thousands of servers in multiple countries, ExpressVPN does things differently.
With ExpressVPN you only have a handful of server locations to choose from. Once you select your location the app takes care of the rest. Assigning you to the fastest available server that’s not oversubscribed. This simple technique is so important, as it keeps ExpressVPN’s servers operating at lightning-fast speeds and prevent its IPs from getting blacklisted for “abnormal” usage in the first place.
Number of servers: 5,000+ | Speeds: >80% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 62 countries | Devices supported: 6 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
$3.49/month for 2-years
$6.99/month for 1-year
$11.95/month for 1 month
NordVPN is the most widely-used VPN in the world. And its easy to see why. It’s a polished app that delivers fast connections (more on this later) to a massive network of VPN servers. It’s the most reliable at unblocking popular streaming services too – US Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, BBC iPlayer, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, etc. This is because NordVPN hired full-time technical team (that’s responsible for monitoring its servers connections with popular TV streaming services) and has been aggressively investing in its network of IP addresses in key locations. Another interesting thing to note is that NordVPN is an industry leader in its development of Nordlynx technology. Nordlynx is built using the WireGuard, a new VPN tunnelling protocol designed to outperform current standards (OpenVPN and IPSec). The benefits, according to NordVPN, are dramatically faster transfer speeds while connected to a VPN. My tests – New Zealand to London – confirm that Nordlynx is currently the fastest VPN on the market. However, the difference isn’t dramatic, a few Mbps is all.
Number of servers: 1,000+ | Speed: >65% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 275 in 100 countries | Devices supported: 5 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
$1.16/month for 5-years
$3.50/month for 1-year
$9.99/month for 1 month
If you’re looking for an excellent VPN, with an even better price tag, Ivacy ($1.16/month) is a great option. This VPN has all the features you need to stream BBC iPlayer, in HD, from any country in the world. I’ve been testing the app recently on Mac, PC, Android, iOS and FireStick and the results have been impressive – unlocking BBC iPlayer, US Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, etc. with ease. The Ivacy app is a little different in regards to its UX (user experience). Instead of just selecting a UK server, you need to select the specific BBC iPlayer server. Don’t worry, this isn’t a bad thing – by connecting to a dedicated BBC iPlayer server, it simply means that you’re connecting to an IP address that Ivacy knows works with BBC iPlayer. For an extra $1.99/month (£1.74) you can add-on a dedicated IP. This will buy you sole access to an IP address in a country of your choice, meaning you won’t have to share your IP (and speeds) with any other use. I don’t recommend this though, using the regular Ivacy servers is enough 95 per cent of the time.
Number of servers: 25,000+ | Speeds: >75% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 70 in 74 countries | Devices supported: 10 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
$2.19/month for 3-years
$3.33/month for 1-year
$11.95/month for 1-month
Private Internet Access is one of the leading no-log VPN services with over 1 million paying customers.
This VPN is one of the best in the industry at beating streaming sites’ VPN bans. It provides reliable connections with US Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, HBO Max, Disney+ Amazon Prime Video, etc. It also allows 10 simultaneous devices to be connected to its servers at the same time, so you can share the account with your close friends.
If, for whatever reason, you’re not happy with Private Internet Access, there’s a 24/7 live chat support available to assist you with your problem. PIA also offers the industry-standard 30-days money-back guarantee.
From my tests (from New Zealand) I was able to get download speeds of 70 Mbps while connected to a UK server using the Private Internet Access VPN (my non-VPN speed is 100 Mbps).
Number of servers: 6,000+ | Speeds: >65% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 200 in 90 countries | Devices supported: 7 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
$2.75/month for 3 years
$3.69/month for 2 years
$5.99/month for 6 months
$12.99/month for 1 month
CyberGhost is one of the more established VPNs on the market. It has a well-established, and well-tested global network of servers that perform well.
From my tests over the past several months, CyberGhost has no trouble at unblocking major streaming services – US Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max etc. This VPN performed well at maintaining download speeds, well above 65 per cent of my regular (non VPN) ISP speed.
That said, there’s nothing really unique about the service. Which forces you to look at its price-point. And there’s nothing special here. Its short-term $12.99/month price tag puts is well above the industry average of $10.10/month. Similarly, its long-term $2.75/month for 3 years deal isn’t much of a “deal” either.
Oddly, CyberGhost’s most unique feature is its a 1-day, no obligations, free trial. This is an appealing offer to customers who are new to VPNs. However, it’s important to remember that most reputable VPNs will offer customers a 30-day money-back guarantee, so try not to be too seduced by the offer.
