Normally, you can't do this because only users accessing these services within the UK are allowed to do so. However, Expat Shield routes your IP address via a UK IP address as if you were still in the UK wherever you are in the world.

The installation for Expat Shield is a bit lengthy and you're given the option whether you want to install the Expat Shield toolbar which you can easily reject if you want. When you run Expat Shield, your browser will be automatically opened with a message to indicate whether Expat Shield has connected correctly or not. It usually connects quickly and you're presented with a series of random TV links below which you can ignore.

Enter the BBC website address in your browser and select the iPlayer. You should find that surfing is no slower than surfing normally without Expat Shield. Simply select the program you want to watch and the iPlayer starts playing as if you were in the UK. Streaming is fast and stable and you can skip and rewind instantly.

The great thing is, Expat Shield is completely free to use. The only thing you have to put up with is an advertising banner at the top of your browser. You can make this disappear by clicking the "X" box although as soon as you surf another page, the banner will appear again.

Expat Shield doesn't affect surfing of sites outside of the iPlayer but if you do want to deactivate it, you need to double click the shortcut again on your desktop and you'll be taken to the main panel in your browser where you can disconnect from the VPN.

Expat Shield also comes with the added bonus in that it helps to anonymize your tracks on the internet. So for example, if you use the Google box in your browser to search, Expat Surfer will ask whether you want to enable or disable google tracking your search history and surfing.

There is very little to fault with Expat Shield except that some users have found it sometimes struggles to establish a UK IP address and ends-up assigning a US address (the developer AnchorFree is based in the US) instead although we didn't experience such problems in our tests.

If you want to watch UK TV including BBC and ITV outside of the UK, Expat Surfer is a brilliant free solution.

Download Expat Shield 1.4.3 in Softonic

The interface in Readon TV Movie Radio Player is certainly not the nicest one we've seen, but serves its purpose. You can click on the tab you're interested in (TV, Radio and Live Sports) and browse through the list of available content. Double clicking on any channel or station is enough to start playing it.

Readon TV Movie Radio Player also offers the possibility to record both the radio and TV streams, though this requires you to download and install an external VLC plug-in. The program also offers other plug-ins to extend its functionalities or make it compatible with third-party apps.

Like other Internet TV apps, not all the channels in Readon TV Movie Radio Player offer the same quality. Some of them are not available at all. But with such a wide offer, you surely will find something to watch.

Readon TV Movie Radio Player gives you the opportunity to access TV channels, radio stations and other multimedia content from your PC.

Download Readon TV Movie Radio Player 7.4.0.0 in Softonic

P2P Streaming

The beauty of streaming via P2P is that anyone can broadcast anything that they want, making it an incredibly democratic medium. The two previously-cited programs are good examples of the technology in action yet SopCast (so called because 'SoP' is an abbreviation for 'Streaming over P2P') is arguably even better because it allows you to easily broadcast your own channels.

In the latest release of SopCast, there are virtually no noticeable interface changes, so it's still extremely easy to use. On installation, you're asked if you'd like to install the Ask.com search bar, which you can de-select by clicking the check-box. When you run SopCast, you can log in either anonymously or, if you're planning on setting-up your own channel, create your own account using the link at the bottom.

Live TV Channels

When you login to SopCast, click on the Live Channels tabs so you can see the channel listings. The first thing you notice is the number of channels to choose from. There's absolutely everything here from obscure Chinese channels (because the developers are based in China) to mainstream offerings like The Discovery Channel (although again, you will find many programs either dubbed or subtitled in Chinese). Some of SopCast's channels are organized, such as by News and Sport but these categories can be unreliable and the lower down you go, simply indecipherable.

SopCast's channel window will pop out of the side of the player but you can expand this to full screen or export it to Windows Media Player using the vision controls on the panel. This truly separates SopCast from the rest of the P2P TV streaming applications. If you want to use a different media player (such as VLC Player), you can do this by clicking on the Options button at the bottom of the main interface.

Broadcast your own programs

SopCast's major draw though, and the reason why many of its channels look like a garbled mess, is the fact that you can broadcast your own channel on it. Once your program has been filmed, edited and is uploaded on your PC, all you have to do is stream it via SopCast and select a server address to which people can connect and watch.

The quality of the broadcast in SopCast will very much depend on the number of people connected (the more users there are, the faster the video will stream). You can even create your own private channel and decide what users can watch it by creating a network group, thus enabling you to run your very own personal TV channel in SopCast.

Conclusions

SopCast might look a bit confusing for the first-time user but, despite the dominance of Chinese channels, it provides a whole new world of TV to watch. What's more, it gives you the chance to start your own channel!

Download SopCast 3.4.8 in Softonic

It's pretty much the same as the original desktop app, but TVUPlayer Green can be safely stored on a USB key without having to install it, and also without leaving any traces on the computer. Also, it works quite well and doesn't take long to load up selected channels.

TVUPlayer Green features a huge list of TV channels, available in several languages and dealing with very varied topics, from religious shows to soccer matches. With such a wide variety, you should also expect different levels of image quality, as well as some channels that are completely useless or don't work at all.

If the channel list is too long for you, try using the category or language filters to shorten it. TVUPlayer Green also includes a built-in channel search engine and a list of Favorites.

TVUPlayer Green is a portable Internet TV player with which you can enjoy online TV channels from all over the world anytime, anywhere.

Download TVUPlayer Green Portable 2.5.3.1 in Softonic

Unlike many other TV apps, Livestation has official agreements with major channels such as BBC World, CNN and The Discovery Channel. This means that you're guaranteed high quality programming and images. Even better, you can interact with other users very easily via an online chat function that also gives Livestation viewers a chance to rate their favorite channels.

You can add channels to Livestation by going to the developer website and simply clicking "Add to player" and you'll find that it's automatically added to your Livestation channel list. The presentation of Livestation is simply really great. You can select channels in a 3D revolving list of logos in much the same way as you do albums in iTunes. The quality of the streams in terms of video and sound is first class, and expanding Livestation to full screen mode still retains excellent quality.

Livestation's latest version has added several handy new features. Not only have more interesting channels been added but you can now tweet directly from Livestation. Simply add your Twitter username and password, and a special screengrabbing function allows you to post images of what you're watching at any time. The search function has also been significantly enhanced allowing you to filter results by Premium Partner, Viewer Added and Free Partner.

On the downside, the chat function is still sparsely populated, in terms of users. You might find that many channels simply have no one to chat to. There's also no way to record programs as of yet.

If you don't have regular access to a TV or are on the move and want the highest possible quality TV programming via the net, then Livestation will not disappoint.

Download Livestation 3.2.0 in Softonic

TVU Player usually streams around 20 different channels, from a large American sports network to the major Chinese television channel and you can watch everything from gossip to movies or sports. TVU Player is extremely simple to use, you only have to double click on the channel of your choice, wait a few minutes for it to buffer, and start watching. Refreshing every now and then lets you check whether new channels are on offer.

TVU Player is a bit unstable, so you shouldn’t be surprised if it fails to initialize or if the channel you are watching tends to lag. If very few people are connected to the same channel you might get poor streaming quality, but if you are watching a popular program there should be a good number of peers sharing the load and the transmission will flow. Always remember to check the number of peers before watching a channel.

TVU Player doesn’t let you set your preferences, like your preferred bandwidth speed or which port to use and there is no way of getting extra information on the channels. There is a command button, but we couldn’t figure out what it was meant for, and TVU Player lacks help files to guide you out of problems. The interface window is mid-sized but you can’t enlarge it, though even if you could, we believe you would end up with a pretty poor quality image.

In other words, TVU Player is far from polished. However it’s an exciting application, which opens up the possibilities of television on Internet. While not everybody might be interested in watching Koweit TV, TVU Player still streams big American and Chinese channels and the other eclectic content. Don’t get taken aback by the instability of the application. If you have a solid broadband connection and a keen sense of curiosity, we suggest giving it a try to get a glimpse of the near future of television.

Download TVUPlayer 2.5.3.1 in Softonic

This basic Internet TV app lets you tune in to hundreds of TV channels from all over the world. They're classified in categories according to their topic: news, sports, educational, entertainment, movies and more.

The problem with KitePlayer, as with all Internet TV apps, is that not all channels are available, and some of them are not exactly what you expected. Finding interesting content is pretty much a question of trial and error, which can end up being a bit disappointing. Plus, the program doesn't include other extra features that you can find in similar tools, such as being able to record the stream or to add new channels to the list.

In any case, KitePlayer is simply one more alternative to try out if you're searching for the perfect Internet TV app.

KitePlayer lets you watch hundreds of free online TV channels for free, covering a wide range of countries and topics.

Download Kite Player 1.0.3 in Softonic

RevoluTV features a huge collection of free online TV channels, all neatly organized into categories such as news, entertainment, lifestyle, shopping, music and sport. You can also browse them according to their country of origin, which I think is a handy way to find content in your language.

Most channels in RevoluTV took just a few seconds to load, though you'll need a broadband connection to get such a high speed. They cover a wide variety of topics, but sometimes I had the impression that some of them may only be interesting for cats – like the Aquarium TV channel – or grandmothers – like the Fireplace TV channel, which you can enjoy in glorious HD.

Also bear in mind that some channels in RevoluTV may not be available in your country. You'll need to find this out by trial and error, because the program won't display any warning message.

RevoluTV has a two-windowed interface, not really the most comfortable way to manage a program. But what really irritates me is the Favorites list: adding new channels to it is not very well implemented.

In all, this is a very easy way to watch free TV channels online, even if the program is let down by a couple of flaws.

Download RevoluTV 2.5 in Softonic

TellyPrompter lists the programmes of 170 UK TV channels, so you can have a look at what’s on offer for the upcoming week. Select your favourites on the Programme Grid and take advantage of the reminder function for any show you just can’t miss.

The application’s interface is easy to understand and in the View menu you can either choose to see TV programmes as a list or as a grid. I particularly like the latter mode, as you can have a quick glance at what different channels have to offer, and also a visual idea of how long each show lasts.

TellyPrompter lets you find out what TV has to offer you. Get updates to avoid missing an episode, and you might even discover something worth watching that you didn’t know about before.

Download TellyPrompter 1.5 in Softonic

It’s easy to navigate around the PPMate interface. The screen is divided into two tabs: the player and the menu. On the side, you have a scroll down menu from which you can select one of the 940 channels available to choose from, with all sorts of categories covered, like sports, news, movies, and TV series. Channels you have viewed will be saved in the "Favorites" list and you can use the search-as-you-type function to find a specific show. There’s also a ticker bar in the player view to remind you of upcoming programs, although unfortunately it appears in Chinese. We like how the main menu interface shows a thumbnail image of the program and you can select programs by clicking on the category tab. You have a little popularity marker next to each program. The more popular a show is, the better it will stream. You can also maximize your streaming quality configuring the XP TCP patch. Setting it to 256 or higher should guarantee you good streaming quality.

Apart from messy interfaces and dodgy streaming quality, I found early streaming TV apps to be very unfriendly to new users. PPMate thankfully launches a quick help window at the start, detailing the main functions accessible in the program, like channel list, player control panel or captions bar. This is really useful in helping you get acquainted with PPMate.

Thanks to the recording button included in the player bar, you can record any channel you’re watching. However, the “browse recording directory” button is not well configured and won’t take you to recorded files. You have to open up the PPMate folder yourself to take a look at what you’ve recorded.

We were also disappointed by the subscribe feature in PPMate. While it should be simple enough to select and save your favourite shows, clicking the subscribe button in tools only displays a blank “notify” window with no further instructions. Hopefully this will be corrected in the future.

Compared to other P2P streaming apps, PPMate offers a great interface and very good streaming quality. However, the new features like subscribe or record were not totally up to scratch. We were surprised to learn that the program only works with WMP 9 or 10, so if you have version 11 installed, you’ll have to downgrade. Also, while the program offers hundreds of channels to choose from, the majority of them are from Asian networks, meaning Westerners might not find what they want. Hopefully in future releases, there will be a wider variety to choose from.

Download PPMate NetTV 2.3.3.6 in Softonic

This help comes with TV-Browser, a simple tool that enables you to check what's scheduled on more than two hundred TV channels and radio stations. The program runs a wizard right after installation which sets up everything for you, although it displayed some error messages.

The program includes many European stations and also displays whatever extended information is available about each program. If your favourite channel is missing, you can add it to the developer's Wishlist on their webpage. TV-Browser also includes special tools to mark certain programs as Favorites or set a reminder so that you don't miss the next episode of a given TV show.

A quick, easy way to follow TV showns on your PC

Download TV-Browser 2.7.4 in Softonic

JLC's Internet TV is very easy to use. All you have to do is select the channel you want to watch and double click its name to make it launch in the embedded video player. Channels are organized in categories for a more comfortable browsing and can be marked as Favorites. JLC's Internet TV also includes a built-in search tool and a filter that lets you sort channels out by country of origin.

Generally speaking, JLC's Internet TV works fine and lets you discover TV shows from anywhere in the world. What lets this app down – just like other similar programs - is that not all of the channels work, and it may take you some time to find interesting content.

Bored of TV shows in your area? Switch on the PC and try JLC's Internet TV to discover new exciting TV channels on the Web.

Download JLC's Internet TV 1.1.1 in Softonic

Following the success of Joost, Babelgum and VeohTV, Adobe decided to get in on the act with the release of the Adobe Media Player. The philosophy of the software giant is that if you use a browser to navigate web pages, why shouldn't you use one to view multimedia too?

The result is basically a version of Joost as seen through the eyes of Adobe. Now out of beta release, the app provides an interesting and immersive way of watching videos online. Navigation is very smooth and feels natural and there are a number of features and services that make it easier to eyeball TV more effectively. For instance, you can create a list of favorites, and keywords add ratings to Flash video, build playlists and use the Dashboard-style interface to check out the latest episodes of your top shows. You can also now subscribe to RSS feeds that tell you when new episodes are online.

Content is king though, of course, and version 1.1 of Adobe Media Player adds a lot more episodes and channels from a broad range of genres. At the time of writing, Adobe estimates that there are around 25,000 episodes available through its media player. Adobe has even partnered with Sony Pictures to offer some movies through the service, such as Jerry Maguire and Men in Black. I was also impressed by the speed and quality of the videos.

One of my main qualms with Adobe Media Player though, is that many of the episodes are not available outside the USA. Fine if you live there, of course, but for those of us in other lands it's so frustrating to see a show you want to watch only to discover it's not available (of course, you don't find this out until after an advert has played in the player).

Glossing over the unavailability of some programs and channels, Adobe Media Player is making all the right strides to becoming the best place to watch TV online.

Download Adobe Media Player 1.1 in Softonic

The GUI is very simple and clear. There is a list of nationalities with TV channels associated and you just have to double click on the one you want to watch. Not all the programs will work, but this may also depend on the availability of the content provider’s server. When you manage to connect to a channel though, the sound and the video quality are fairly good and you can either watch the program in windowed mode or, by double-clicking on it, enjoy the full screen mode.

Unfortunately, it’s not possible to pause the stream, as the program doesn’t store data on your hard disk. It is a big limitation considering that it’s a very easy function to have on PCs and it’s the real plus in rapport to traditional broadcasted TV.

Although you can’t have any control when watching a program, TeleStreamer allows you to watch 853 channels all over the world, both to practice your language skills and to see what’s going on in Africa, Iraq or Suriname, if you know where that is.

Download Tele-Streamer 1.0 in Softonic