UK customers of TV streaming services can no longer watch live sport, including Premier League football, when visiting the rest of Europe, following the end of the Brexit transition period.
Customers of Sky, Amazon Prime and BT Sport have all lost access to live games. Some other programmes and channels will also no longer be available.
Until 31 December 2020, TV companies were required to provideBritish customers with any content available in the UK if they were temporarily in another EEA member state, under the EU Portability Regulation.
That rule no longer applies, meaning viewers who travel will notice changes to what they can access.
Sky customers will have to download TV shows or films before they travel but will not be able to stream films or shows, or watch live sport.
The same is true of Amazon Prime, where Premier League football matches are now only available to watch in the UK. Amazon said customers could still access content in its “watch abroad” category, and anything they had already purchased.
BT TV and Sport customers can no longer use the apps or web players in the EU, including all live and catch-up services.
Netflix customers can only use their accounts to watch programmes and films that the company is licensed to show in the country they are visiting.
and Netflix
Ernest Doku, a telecoms expert at comparison site Uswitch.com, said Brexit had meant the “unwanted outcome” of the consumers losing access to services as the UK left the digital single market.
“Streaming services’ licensing agreements are sold by territory, so if your destination is not covered, your favourite shows and films will not be available,” he said.
“For some streaming services like Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime most of their original output is available wherever you are in the world, conversely, all of the content on BritBox is inaccessible overseas.”
