If you’ve been watching ITV Hub with Private Internet Access (PIA) and it’s not working, then ITV has managed to block all the IP addresses PIA can provide.
This has happened because PIA is not able or is no longer able to get around the VPN blocking techniques ITV Hub uses to stop VPN IP addresses from accessing its platform.
The good news is there are a number of ways you can try to fix this problem.
This article will explain how you can fix Private Internet Access not working with ITV Hub. And how you can prevent your VPN not working with ITV Hub again in the future.
See also:
- Private Internet Access not working with Netflix? Here’s how I FIXED that! (May 2023)
- Private Internet Access not working with ESPN+? Here’s some EASY fixes to try! (May 2023)
Private Internet Access not working with ITV Hub: Fixes
Try these fixes in order. If one doesn’t work, move on to the next one until you’ve fixed Private Internet Access not working with ITV Hub.
Delete Cookies
If you were using PIA with ITV Hub and it suddenly stopped working, then the streaming service may be identifying the IP address allocated to you by PIA via your Cookies.
Cookies are small files used to streamline your online experience. They aren’t dangerous files. In fact, ITV uses them for a number of uses. A common one is saving your login information so you don’t have to log in every time you access the streaming service.
Unfortunately, in order for these Cookies to work, some of them contain information about your physical location. If the location stored on your Cookies is different to the location you’re selecting on PIA, ITV Hub knows you’re using a VPN and will block the connection.
Try deleting your Cookies to resolve this issue.
Change to a different UK server
If you were using PIA to watch ITV Hub and it’s stopped working, chances are the IP address the VPN has given you has been identified and blocked by ITV Hub.
The good news is ITV Hub doesn’t have the ability to block PIA completely, only the IP addresses it provides.
Changing to a different UK server will give you a different IP address, and if that one hasn’t been blocked, PIA will work with ITV Hub again.
Change to a different protocol
PIA supports two different protocols, OpenVPN and WireGuard.
Protocols determine how your online information is rerouted through a VPN server. OpenVPN is a very secure protocol but isn’t the fastest, while WireGuard is a little less secure but is incredibly fast.
The reason PIA might not be working with ITV Hub is because the protocol you’re using is no longer compatible with the streaming service. Try switching between the two protocols and see if that resolves the issue.
Upgrade to a VPN that’s still compatible with ITV Hub
If none of the above fixes has resolved Private Internet Access not working with ITV Hub, then all of PIA’s IP addresses have been identified by ITV Hub and have been blocked.
From here, you can do a couple of things. You can wait for PIA to fix the issue on its end and release new IP addresses that haven’t been blocked by ITV Hub, or you can upgrade to a VPN that works reliably with ITV Hub.
We recommend ExpressVPN ($6.67/month).
ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) is an incredibly fast and secure VPN, and it has measures in place to ensure ITV Hub doesn’t block all of its IP addresses. It does this by playing a game of cat and mouse with the streaming service.
Although unlikely, if an IP provided by ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) gets blocked by ITV Hub, ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) will close that IP address and open a new unblocked one. This will allow you to watch ITV Hub reliably anywhere in the world and will ensure you don’t come across the same errors you’re coming across with PIA.
Why has PIA stopped working with ITV Hub?
PIA has stopped working with ITV Hub because the streaming service has managed to identify and block all the IP addresses PIA can provide.
The reason it does this is to protect itself from potential copyright, and licensing breaches VPNs could cause.
Because ITV Hub only has the rights to broadcast its content in the UK, it tries to block VPNs from accessing its content. It does this because PIA can allow you to watch the streaming service outside the UK, and this could result in ITV facing severe fines for breaching licensing agreements it has with its content partners.
How does ITV Hub block PIA?
ITV Hub blocks VPNs using three main techniques:
- The most common technique is to do with the IP addresses that your VPN can provide. VPN providers have more customers than the number of IP addresses they can provide; this means that customers can use the same IP addresses. Usually, only a household with a few devices uses the same IP address. When ITV Hub sees hundreds or even thousands of connections coming through on the same IP address, it knows that it is a VPN, and it blocks it.
- ITV Hub monitors for IP, DNS and WebRTC leaks that can tip the service off you are using a VPN.
- ITV Hub teams up with GeoIP databases like Maxmind to identify IP addresses. If the IP address your VPN provides is on one of these databases, ITV Hub will be able to find out where in the world you are connecting to the internet from, and it will block you.
Lesser VPNs struggle to get around these blocks, and subsequently, all of their IP addresses get blacklisted by ITV Hub. This is what has most likely happened to PIA, and it’s why you’re coming across issues using the VPN to watch ITV Hub.
Does ITV Hub still work with VPNs?
Yes, ITV Hub works with VPNs. However, you need to use a VPN that can get around the blocking techniques ITV Hub has in place.
Free VPNs and lesser VPNs struggle to get around these blocks. PIA has stopped working because the measures it has in place to ensure it works reliably with the streaming service are no longer working, or it didn’t have these kinds of measures in the first place.
Fortunately, there are VPNs that have these sorts of measures. We recommend ExpressVPN ($6.67/month).
We’ve been using ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) to watch ITV Hub outside the UK for years and have never come across any issues. It’s a fast, secure VPN and has 24/7 chat support and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Most importantly, it plays a game of cat and mouse with ITV Hub. This means if, on the off-chance, ITV Hub manages to block an IP address provided by ExpressVPN ($6.67/month), it will close that IP address and open a new one.
This may seem like a simple measure. However, it requires a lot of financial backing and infrastructure that only some VPNs can muster. ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) is able to do this, and it will allow you to watch ITV Hub without issues anywhere in the world.
The best VPNs for ITV Hub
1. ExpressVPN 🥇
Why You Should Use ExpressVPN? It’s the fastest and MOST reliable VPN of 2022
Pros
- ✅ Fast servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 10-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 24/7 Live Chat
- ✅ Easy-to-use app
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- ❌ Expensive
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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 ($6.66/month) is still the best VPN. And importantly, it ALWAYS has servers that are open with major streaming sites such as Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Paramount+, Amazon Prime Video, etc.
ExpressVPN is usually very good at playing Cat and Mouse with online streaming sites. 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 prevents its IPs from getting blacklisted for “abnormal” usage in the first place.
Check out our full ExpressVPN review.
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2. NordVPN 🥉
A very quick and trustworthy VPN
Pros
- ✅ Fast servers
- ✅ No logs
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 6-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
- ✅ Easy-to-use app
Cons
- ❌ No refunds for purchases from iTunes/App store
Special Offer for you!
Sign up for a 3-year plan with Private Internet Access and save 83% + 3 months free. That works out at $2.03/month.
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 it’s 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 a 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 tunneling 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.
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3. Ivacy
A very quick and trustworthy VPN
Pros
- ✅ Fast servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ Dedicated streaming servers
- ✅ 5-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
- ✅ 24/7 Live Chat
Cons
- ❌ Only 5 devices
- ❌ Sometimes runs slow
- ❌ Occasionally block by streaming sites for several days
Special Offer for you!
Sign up for Ivacy and enjoy a 7-day trial with no strings attached
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.
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4. CyberGhost
A very quick and trustworthy VPN
Pros
- ✅ 1-day free trial
- ✅ Reliable servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 7-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
- ✅ Easy-to-use app
Cons
- ❌ Expensive
- ❌ Average speed scores
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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
- $2.75/month for 3 years
- $3.69/month for 2 years
- $5.99/month for 1 year
- $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.
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