How to watch TVP Sport outside of Poland
Chris
Chris, a UK-born media connoisseur, is an expert in watching international TV. Known as "The Global Screen Wanderer", he has travelled extensively across the globe with long stints away from home. With over 10 years of experience he has become the go-to guru for streaming content from home and abroad.
Polish people are now more travelled than ever before. For example there are now over half a million polish speakers in the UK alone and big numbers in other countries around the world including many in Europe and the US and it’s not just Polish expats there are many people of polish descent worldwide.
Getting access to Polish TV outside of Poland is increasingly difficult. While there may be hundreds of thousands of Poles in the UK and other countries there still isn’t a dedicated Polish language TV station to view Polish TV shows or sport.
One of the best TV stations in Poland for sport is TVP Sport available at sport.tvp.pl. Even for those who aren’t Polish the station carries a lot of major sporting events that some other nations TV services just don’t cover.
For example TVP were one of few free to air TV stations that covered the Copa America football tournament when other nations simply either didn’t cover it at all or it was only available on expensive pay per view TV stations.
How can I watch TVP Sport outside of Poland
If you’ve ever tried to visit the TVP Sport page when outside Poland you’ll be hit with a message that says something like “Sorry, Due to licensing restrictions material is not available in the country from which you are connecting.” or in Polish just like the one below.
sport.tvp.pl Blocked
If you’re trying to watch your favourite sport just like I was with the Copa America then you’ll know how annoying the above message can be. I’m in the UK and often find certain sports I want to watch on sport.TVP.pl but being outside of Poland I get blocked.
They block you because they can decipher your location based on your internet connection. They know exactly what country you’re in based on your IP Address. An IP Address is a set of numbers unique to you when you connect to the internet and one of the side effects of this is it discloses your location.
The solution is to get yourself a Polish IP Address even though you’re not in Poland and the way to do that is to use a service called a VPN or Virtual Private Network.
They sound really technical but don’t worry they’re extremely easy to use, even your grandmother could work it. Read on to find out what to do next.
How can I bypass sport.TVP.pl region restrictions
Getting a VPN service is incredibly easy and will cost about US$5-$10 per month (£3-£6 / 18-35 zł). First you need a VPN provider who offers a Polish “server”. You also need to ensure that the provider you’re signing up to offers fast and reliable speeds as streaming video takes a lot of juice speed wise.
As sport.TVP.pl offers streaming in up to 720p quality to experience the best picture the quality of your VPN service is critical.
Hunting around for a fast VPN provider takes time and let’s face it, who has the time and effort to go through all that? Luckily for you I’ve done the hard work for you and below are the three best VPN providers for watching sport.TVP.pl outside Poland.
The next step is to choose one of the providers above by clicking their name to visit their website then sign up. Once you’ve signed up continue reading the guide below.
How to I use a VPN to watch sport.tvp.pl
Now you’ve signed up to a VPN provider the next step is to download the software or app for the device of your choice.
All three providers support PC, Mac, Android and iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad. When you’ve signed up you’ll be directed to download the right software for your device and to install it.
Once installed all you need to do is connect to a Polish server. VPN Software is pretty simple to understand and most work the same but as an example in the screenshot below I’m using ExpressVPN.
As you can see all you need to do is click on the Polish location and wait for it to connect.
Watch Polish TV with ExpressVPN.
Once it’s connected all you need to do is visit the sport.TVP.pl website.
Rather than seeing a block message you’ll be able to stream all your favourite sports from the sport.TVP.pl website in up to 720p quality.
Once you’ve finished watching just disconnect from the VPN connection and continue to use your internet as normal. You can connect again whenever you need, there is no limit to the amount of times you can connect and disconnect.
You can also use the service on your full range of devices, just install the relevant software or app to take advantage.
If you have any other Polish blocked websites or websites blocked in general the same VPN package will be suitable for those too.
Any questions please feel free to post in our comments section, we would love to hear how easy you found the process.
Image courtesy of Tuomas_Lehtinen at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
