The luxury of living in Italy is pretty much about enjoying beautiful, highly-developed, yet rustic towns all while having access to one of the best cuisines. To that, we should add plenty of great content on local TV channels such as Rai, Mediaset, Inter TV, La5, and many others.
Unfortunately, people outside of this country can’t enjoy any of these benefits, which especially applies to watching Italian TV outside of Italy. As you’ll quickly find out, we’re talking about geo-restricted channels, which is why it’s so difficult to watch them abroad.
Whether you’re an Italian on vacation in a foreign country or you just want to access the amazing content on Italian TV channels, this article is for you. Today, I’m showing you how to watch Italian TV channels live abroad and gain access to local TV shows, movies, sports, and entertainment programs!
Italian TV Channels Outside of Italy: Why I Can’t Access Them?
The first thing to talk about is addressing the big, enormous elephant in the room. And that is the question of why you can’t watch Italian TV live abroad. As said, local TV channels from this country are geo-restricted, which means they’re not available once you’re out of the country’s borders.
To be honest, Italy isn’t guilty of that particularly, as this is the case with almost EVERY local TV channel in almost every country. If we talk about a German TV channel like ZDF, for example, you will see that you can’t watch it outside of Germany.
And then, if we go back to Italian TV, channels like Mediaset and Rai are also inaccessible to people located in other countries. That happens because of licensing rights that each channel has to sign to be able to operate at all.
However, these licensing rights allow them to broadcast their content only in their native countries, and violating these terms would cost these channels a lot. That explains why you can’t watch Italian TV live outside of Italy.
I currently reside in Europe and when trying to watch TG5 Mediaset, I’m greeted with an error message. It’s in Italian but it says that I’m not located in the country, so I can’t watch the channel live.
RAI channels are among the most popular in Italy but when trying to watch any of them from my country, I get a clear message saying “The streaming of this content is available in Italy only.” So what can I do?
How can I watch Italian TV outside of Italy and enjoy what these channels have to offer? Well, the trick lies in the fact that all of these channels and websites, in general, can see your IP address each time you visit them, which also shows your location.
If the IP address isn’t based in Italy, you’re restricted access and if it’s based in this country, the channels will allow you to access and watch them. But how to get an Italian IP? Well, let’s talk about that in the next section.
How to Watch Italian TV Online Abroad With a VPN
You’ll have to use a VPN to get an Italian IP if you don’t plan on starting your new life in this country. A VPN is a service that lets you change your IP address to another country and route your traffic through a VPN tunnel, which encrypts it and makes it untraceable by your internet provider and hackers.
You get several benefits here, such as increased online security but also the ability to bypass geo-restrictions and unblock blocked platforms and websites. The key for this purpose is to find a VPN with servers in Italy and the one I found has dozens of them in this country – it’s ExpressVPN.
For this tutorial, I will use ExpressVPN to show you how to watch Italian TV live abroad since it’s the most reliable pick. Rest assured, you can also use CyberGhost if you want, which I’ll also talk about in a few minutes.
1. Get ExpressVPN
To be able to use this provider, you first must get its subscription and install it. ExpressVPN isn’t a free VPN and it’s actually good because free providers offer no servers in Italy – nada! However, the trick is that by using the button below, you can enjoy ExpressVPN’s currently available discount.
It’s a 49% discount for the 12-month plan where ExpressVPN gives you 3 free months on top of that. That’s not the end, as you also get a 30-day money-back guarantee for ALL subscription plans, so it’s easy to get a refund if you don’t need it anymore.
This lets you use it risk-free to watch Italian TV live online and get reimbursed when you get back to Italy or for whatever reason. Once you’re subscribed, download its application for your platform. ExpressVPN is a VPN that will work on Windows, iOS, Android, Linux, and macOS.
Thus, select your platform, download, and install ExpressVPN. On Windows/macOS, it’s a setup file, while iOS/Android users can download and install the app directly from their respective app stores. The dashboard of ExpressVPN looks like the one above.
2. Connect to an Italian VPN Server
From here, everything is simple. As said, we need an Italian IP address and to get it, we need to click on the three dots positioned horizontally, next to the “Selected Location”. In doing so, the next step is to click on All Locations and choose Europe.
Italy won’t be visible at first, but scroll down and it’ll appear. Double-click on it (Windows) or tap once on it (iOS/Android) and ExpressVPN will establish a connection to a server in this country in less than 2-3 seconds.
If ExpressVPN turns green, the connection is successful and you’re connected to an Italian VPN server.
3. Watch Italian TV Outside of Italy (Anywhere)
This, in return, allows you to access any Italian TV channel you want. Don’t believe me? Well, just try it for yourself.
The solution applies to watching all Italian TV channels live abroad, so it’s not limited to just the channels mentioned in this article.
How to Watch Italian TV Outside of Italy With CyberGhost?
Another VPN you can try is CyberGhost. CyberGhost is a bit cheaper provider overall and it offers 11,500+ servers in 100+ countries around the world. Not only does it offer 300+ servers in Milano and Rome but it also comes with special dedicated streaming servers that work well for bypassing geo-restrictions.
You open CyberGhost, find an Italian server location you want on the list, and double-click on it to connect. After that, with an Italian IP in place, CyberGhost will let you access any TV channel in this country no matter your real location.
Because it offers great speeds and unlimited bandwidth – much like ExpressVPN – you’ll have zero problems streaming content on these channels limitlessly.
Beware that CyberGhost isn’t as good as ExpressVPN and it’s a bit slower, with no ability to unblock Netflix Italy – something that ExpressVPN can do. On the flip side, this is a good provider if you’re looking to save a bit of money.
Its longest plan costs under $2.3 a month and comes with a whopping 45-day money-back guarantee, which, at the moment, no other provider on the market will give you. If you’re interested in this provider, make sure you use the red button above to claim this cheapest deal.
After all, despite being so cheap, this paid VPN is better than any free VPN you can find online. Therefore, it’s absolutely worth giving it a chance.
Bottom Line
The greatest thing about VPNs is that they allow you to access any content you want without geo-restrictions imposing annoying limits. As you learned today, you can watch Italian TV channels outside of Italy using a VPN like ExpressVPN or CyberGhost.
Once you alter your VPN location to this country, accessing any of the channels is simple. Keep in mind that these providers offer plenty more benefits, so if you’re going to spend money on them, know that this isn’t the only purpose that they can serve.
With these providers, you can stay safe on public WiFi networks, access numerous Netflix libraries, download torrents safely (very important in Italy!), and prevent your ISP from throttling your internet, which is great if you’re into low-ping gaming or 4K streaming.
Now that we’ve said everything you need to know, feel free to test any of the two providers and watch Italian TV online anywhere. The solution is risk-free and best of all – it WORKS!
