England will face Australia back on home soil this summer. And after a brief hiatus with BT Sport, the Ashes will return to Sky Sports in 2019. Here I’ll show you how you can watch the Ashes abroad. It’s really simple.
If you’re not a Sky Sports subscriber, then don’t worry. You can sign up to Now TV and follow our how to watch Now TV abroad guide, or even better, follow the steps below and watch the Ashes for free using a VPN and Australia’s free-to-air TV channel, Nine.
How to watch the Ashes abroad: Quick guide
- Subscribe to ExpressVPN (£6.36/month) or Ivacy (£1.71/month)
- Download and install the app on your device
- Connect to a server in the UK
- Open up Sky Go
- Watch the Ashes on Sky Sports as if you were in the UK
Providing you’ve got a Sky Sports subscription, all you need is a good VPN (which spoofs your internet location), and you’ll be able to watch the Ashes from anywhere in the world – just as you would if you are in the UK.
How can I stream the Ashes from outside the UK?
Steaming the Ashes from outside of the UK is easy. All you need is a good VPN (that’s not been blacklisted) and an active Sky Sports subscription.
VPNs allow you to spoof your internet location to anywhere in the world – as long as your VPN provider has a server in the country of your choice. VPNs make this possible by using a combination of impenetrable military-grade encryption and a network of servers around the world.
Users’ internet traffic is encrypted at the source – using VPN software installed on a user’s device. This encrypted data is sent to a VPN’s server in a location of the user’s choice, where it is decrypted and redirected to the local ISP (internet service provider). This simple technique allows VPN users to access any Country or State’s local internet services from anywhere in the world.
Get ExpressVPN for £6.36/month) or Ivacy (£1.71/month)
Make sure you use a good VPN
Users need to be careful. Broadcasters – including Sky, BBC iPlayer, Netflix, BT Sport etc. – have started blacklisting VPNs from accessing their servers. Take a look at the list of VPNs that no longer work with Sky to see which VPNs provide their users with unreliable connections (for streaming Sky Go)
The way broadcaster block VPNs is pretty basic. They monitor the number of connections coming from each IP address. And when an individual IP address supports an abnormal amount of simultaneous connections, the broadcaster knows that IP belongs to a VPN. And that IP is blacklisted forever.
Poor VPNs are slow to react to this. However, good VPNs – such as ExpressVPN (£6.36/month) or Ivacy (£1.71/month) – have a workaround that is as simple as it is effective. They play a game of Cat and Mouse with the broadcasters. If/when one of their IP addresses is blacklisted, they react by shutting that IP down and opening a new one.
Good VPNs will also have a large number of IP addresses available in popular locations. The lets them spread their users across their network IPs – which prevents an abnormal number of connections coming from its servers, which stops its IP addresses from being blacklisted in the first place.
Watch the 2019 Ashes for free using a VPN & Channel Nine in Australia
If you don’t have a Sky Sports subscription, you can stream every ball of the 2019 Ashes for free with Australia’s free-to-air Channel Nine. All you need is a good VPN like ExpressVPN (£6.36/month) or Ivacy (£1.71/month).
Once you’ve signed up to one of the VPN’s mentioned above, you need to connect to a server in Austalia.
Now that’s done, all you need to do is sign up for a Channel Nine account.
You will have to enter a valid Australian postcode to register your account successfully. Use any number between 1000-2999 for a postcode in New South Wales. Alternatively, Google “Australian Post Codes” and randomly pick your own.
After you have verified your account, all you need to do is click the “Watch Live TV” link. And you’ll be able to watch the 2019 Ashes for free.
Note: You will have the Australian commentary team accompanying your stream. But you can mute these and use your VPN to listen to TMS from outside the UK on another device.
Read next: BBC detecting VPN? Here’s how to fix that!
