author: programming

How to hide ip: TVCatchup Blocks All VPN Services

Posted: 13 Mar 2010 01:30 AM PST

TVCatchup, the popular internet television service for viewing certain UK channels, blocked several hosting providers that were used by VPN services. Thus, TVCatchup is no more available for users outside UK.

Tvcatchup

The annoucement made yesterday by TVCatchup team was very clear: “As all users should be aware, TVCatchup is currently available only to those located within the United Kingdom. As explained in our Terms of Service and elsewhere on the website, it is not acceptable to access TVCatchup from outside of the UK.”

This comes after an upgrade of the service IP security that is now able to block not only individual IP addresses, but also all IP address originating from any UK datacenter where VPN services are typically hosted. The first VPN hosting providers blocked were RapidSwitched and Poundhost. Soon after, others were blocked, including UK2.net.

The interesting fact is that a VPN service that was hosted in the same data center as TVCatchup tried to fill the gap and emailed a number of TVCatchup users, offering to sell them access to the service. How they had access to the TVCatchup users email address is still a mistery. Finally, this VPN service was also blocked.

The reaction of the users varied from “I think it is fair that only UK can watch it” to “People using a VPN may be breaking the law but they do so because there is no alternative“, but the result remains: the service is no longer available from outside UK.

Conclusion: You should not buy a VPN for the purpose of accessing TVCatchup. It won’t work!

TVCatchup alternatives

So, there is no hope for the TVCatchup fans living outside UK. There is no way to bypass their filters. At least for now.

Solution: Look for alternatives. And there are some: BBC iPlayer, SeeSaw and the newly-born MSN Video Player. They are not the same, but this is the best you can get.

What is your alternative for TVCatchup?

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TVCatchup Blocks All VPN Services

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