How to stream Hotstar to your TV outside India

While abroad, you might prefer to stream Hotstar to your TV rather than having to huddle over your laptop.

I don’t blame you, TV is definitely the way to watch!

Because of geo-fencing, it is increasingly difficult to do that. Happily, I have several solutions to make it easier for you to watch Hotstar content directly on a television from any location.

Keep reading to find the simplest ways to stream Hotstar to a television, even outside of India.

Despite being relatively new compared to more established streaming services, Hotstar is quickly becoming a staple of Indian households.

Not only does it show content in 8 different languages, it has a wide selection of shows, films, and even major sport matches like Indian Premier League cricket.

Content can even be filtered to show English, Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi and Kennada language entries.

Read on to see how to stream Hotstar to your TV directly.

How to stream Hotstar to Your TV

Outside of India, attempts to stream shows or sporting events like Indian Premier League cricket result in a content block message like this:

That is because all Internet-connected devices are given a special number called an IP Address. Among the identifying information contained in an IP address is where the device is located geographically.

Attempting to access the Hotstar website or use their app outside of India doesn’t work because your IP address tells the service provider where you’re located.

Fortunately, you can avoid this issue by using a service called a virtual private network (VPN). By connecting your computer to a VPN server, you can make it appear as if you are located where that server is.

In order to stream Hotstar to your TV, you first need to connect to a VPN server located in India to give yourself an Indian IP Address.

Connecting to a VPN on your laptop or phone or tablet is very easy. Many virtual private networks have applications for these devices that will assign you an Indian IP address with the click of a button.

But what about streaming televisions?

Below we show you how to connect your television to a VPN so you can stream Hotstar directly on your TV.

Choosing a VPN for your TV to stream Hotstar

The first step is to sign up with a VPN that will allow you to access and stream Hotstar outside of India. I’ve put together a list of VPNs that will let you stream Hotstar while abroad.

A small VPN has recently been making itself available that can sidestep geo-fencing on every major streaming service: PrivadoVPN. This service is not only fast, but easy to set up and use.

Even more importantly, their paid plans are as low as US$4.99 per month with an annual account (US$7.99 per month if you prefer month-to-month) and include high-speed servers physically located in India plus unlimited data and speeds, which is perfect for streaming.

Click any of the provider links below to go to their website.

Sign up for an account, and when you have, come back here for instructions on how to connect your TV to it.

1. PrivadoVPN – Recommended!
2. NordVPN
3. Surfshark

How to use your VPN on your TV

There are two ways you can use your VPN to stream Hotstar to your TV.

1. See if there is an app

Many VPN providers have started to create apps that work directly on popular streaming devices like the Amazon Fire Stick or Roku TVs.

If this is the case, you can easily download their app just as you would a channel directly to your TV.

Once inside the app, you would either enter your username and password or utilize any time-saving login options they have available.

Finally, open the server list and choose an Indian location to connect to.

2. Manually install on your router

If your VPN doesn’t have an app for streaming devices, you’re not out of luck.

You can still manually install the VPN on your router and not only stream Hotstar to your TV, but also protect every device connected to your network!

It may sound confusing, but I will show you how to set it up.

For this example, I will be setting up PrivadoVPN on an ASUS router, but the process is much the same on most similar hardware.

1. Begin by signing up for service on the PrivadoVPN website.
2. Download the ovpn_configs.zip file from their Support section. This contains the information your router needs to know to connect to PrivadoVPN’s network.
3. Extract these files and put them in a folder for later.
4. Log into your router’s Admin interface. You can do this by opening a browser tab and typing 192.168.1.1. If you’ve never logged into your ASUS router before, the username and password are both “admin” without the inverted commas.
5. Navigate to the VPN section on the left side of the screen and choose the VPN Client tab.
6. Click the Add Profile button.
7. On the Add Profile screen, put a descriptive name in the Description field, then fill in your VPN username and password.
8. Click the “Choose File” button, then pick one of the files from the ovpn_configs.zip that you extracted. Be sure to click “Upload” after you have done that.
9. Click “OK” in the Add Profile Screen, then click “Activate” next to the profile name in the VPN Client tab.
10. If you see a blue checkmark, you have completed the configuration properly. Now you can choose an Indian server in the VPN Server tab at the top of the screen and start streaming Hotstar.

Once the software has connected you can then visit the Hotstar website with a television-based browser or use an appropriate app.

You should have no trouble at all watching any show, movie or sport that you want on their service.

After you finish watching, you can either disconnect your router from the VPN, or change to a nearby server to get all of the benefits of a virtual private network, but with a faster connection.

From that point forward, anytime you want to stream Hotstar to your TV, it’s as easy as connecting to an Indian server through your VPN.