Online TV in Germany represents one of the most developed networks worldwide. There are hundreds of different channels for all kinds of tastes, with more and more people tuning in to their services on a daily basis.
TV in Germany is, after all, a pretty big deal. ARD alone is the largest public broadcaster in the world, operating on a staggering €7 billion budget with fees collected from almost every household in the country.
It is no surprise then that the online offerings from broadcasters like ARD and ZDF would be very robust. However, since they operate on advertising revenue and tax-like fees collected by German people, online TV is only available to residents of Germany.
So can I watch German TV online while I’m abroad?
For those located in any other country in the world, accessing such content is not officially possible. If you try to visit websites like ZDF.de and try to watch any content, you will just get an error message roughly translated to:
“For legal reasons, this content can only be shown within Germany”
Whether you are in the UK, the US, Australia, France, Italy, Norway, Denmark, or anywhere else in the world right now, you will get the same message. This is just the unfortunate truth that comes with geographically-restricted copyright content.
Don’t worry. By using a VPN, you can access German online streaming TV unofficially
You read that right. With the right VPN, you can easily bypass these restrictions and unblock German TV online no matter where you are in the world. The trick here is pretty simple. VPNs just mask your IP address, making streaming services like ZDF online think that you are currently in Germany.
A VPN can be used in pretty much any Internet-connected device that you own. This includes Android phones and tablets, iOS devices like the iPhone, Windows PCs, macOS Macbooks and iMacs, and even some smart TVs and streaming boxes like the Roku.
How to watch German TV in the USA and abroad with a VPN?
Well, the first thing you want to do is to get yourself a subscription with a good VPN provider. You may find some free ones out there, but let me stop you right now; free VPNs are slow, they collect most of your data, and are very unreliable.
Instead, we would recommend one of the VPNs from the table below. Having reviewed all of them, we have found that they work exceptionally well for streaming. And if they don’t, you can always get a refund with their money-back guarantees.
- Provider
- User Rating
- Price
NordVPN- 14827 Votes
- $3.29 / month
PureVPN- 7715 Votes
- $3.24 / month
ExpressVPN- 6930 Votes
- $6.67 /mo
Here’s what you need to do: After you decide on the VPN you want to subscribe to
- Register with one of the VPNs from our top list.
- Download the VPN client to your device of choice and install it.
- Start the VPN and connect to a German server.
- Visit your favorite German TV website in USA and watch all the content you want.
As long as you have a good Wi-Fi connection, you will be able to stream all the content you want without any restrictions. And with these VPNs, you should not have any lagging issues whatsoever.
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