How to Watch German TV Live Abroad (Unblock German TV Anywhere)

To watch German TV abroad, connect a VPN to a server in Germany, then open ARD Mediathek, ZDF, Joyn, or RTL+. NordVPN, Proton VPN, and ExpressVPN unblocked every German channel we tried, plus Netflix Germany, and NordVPN is our pick for its TV apps and Smart DNS. A VPN can’t help with accounts, though. Joyn’s free tier requires a sign-up, and RTL+ is paid apart from a few free episodes, with plans sold only to residents of Germany and four nearby countries.

How to Watch German TV Abroad With a VPN

Subscribe to NordVPN, install the app on your computer, phone, or TV, and sign in. Type Germany in the search bar, or scroll to it in the country list, and click it to connect. NordVPN lists Berlin, Frankfurt, and Hamburg, and it connected in about two seconds in our tests. With a German IP address active, open ardmediathek.de, zdf.de, or joyn.de, or their apps, and press play.

A private browser window keeps the site from reusing your earlier location, and Joyn plays nothing until you sign in with a free account. For a German IP address on its own, for banking or shopping sites, see our guide to getting a German IP address. Connecting to a US server instead lets you watch American TV from Germany.

Channel-by-Channel Results From Abroad

We tested in October from a Windows 11 PC in Europe, outside the EU, first without a VPN and then on the German servers of NordVPN, Proton VPN, and ExpressVPN.

Service	Without a VPN	On a German server	Account
Das Erste (live)	Rights message	Unblocked	Not required
ARD regional channels (live)	BR, hr, mdr, and WDR played; the rest blocked	Unblocked	Not required
ZDF (live)	Geo-restriction message	Unblocked	Not required
ZDF films	Most blocked, a few played	Unblocked	Not required
Joyn	Geo-blocking error	Unblocked	Free account
RTL+ (free episodes)	Rights message	Unblocked	Paid plan for most content
Netflix Germany	Local catalog instead	Unblocked	Netflix subscription

ARD Mediathek and Das Erste

Das Erste streams through ARD Mediathek, and a search for the channel leads straight to ardmediathek.de. ARD blocks programs one at a time, depending on its broadcast rights. During our test, the Das Erste live stream showed a rights message, like the live streams of NDR, Radio Bremen, rbb, SR, SWR, ONE, and arte. BR, hr, mdr, and WDR played without a VPN, but that list can change with the next program. On a German server, the three VPNs unblocked every ARD stream we tried.

ZDF

From outside the EU, ZDF’s live channel and most of its films showed a geo-restriction message. A few films played. ZDF clears its catalog title by title, and its help pages say the 24/7 channels are limited to Germany for rights reasons, while some individual programs, such as heute journal, stream worldwide. Our three VPNs unblocked the live channel and the films that had been blocked.

Joyn

Joyn streams ProSieben, Sat.1, Kabel Eins, and sixx for free, but the free tier requires an account. We signed up with Google, and no verification step followed. Without a VPN, Joyn showed a geo-blocking error, and the three VPNs unblocked its live channels. Joyn PLUS+ adds HD on private channels and more pay-TV channels for about €9 a month.

Sat.1 and Joyn also show nine Bundesliga matches a season for free, while the rest require a German Sky or DAZN subscription. Our sports streaming VPN rankings cover other leagues, and Austria has its own Joyn, covered in our Austrian TV guide.

RTL+

RTL+ is paid, with a handful of free episodes. Without a VPN, those free episodes showed a rights message, and every VPN we tested unblocked them. Only residents of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Luxembourg can subscribe. The Basic plan costs about €6 a month, and live TV requires the Premium plan at about €10. Live TV works only in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, even for subscribers.

Best VPNs for German TV

1. NordVPN: Best for German TV on Every Device

NordVPN unblocked ARD Mediathek, ZDF, Joyn, RTL+’s free episodes, and Netflix Germany on its German servers. On its Berlin server, it downloaded at 173.84 Mbps with 43 ms ping. For watching on a TV, NordVPN has apps for Fire TV, Android TV, and Apple TV, and Samsung and LG sets can use its Smart DNS instead of an app.

On a Fire TV Stick 4K Plus, it lost only 3.0% of its speed in our tests. On Windows, though, it sometimes failed to connect while another VPN was open in the background. NordVPN’s Basic plan is under $3.50 a month for two years.

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2. Proton VPN: Best for Speed on German Servers

Proton VPN was faster than NordVPN and ExpressVPN on German servers, downloading at 180.91 Mbps in Berlin, a 5.0% speed loss. It has 706 servers in Germany, 157 in Berlin and 549 in Frankfurt, and it had no trouble with any German channel we tried or with Netflix Germany. Proton VPN covers Fire TV and Android TV with apps, but it has no Smart DNS, which leaves a router setup as the only option for Samsung and LG TVs.

Its free plan has no German servers. Proton VPN is based in Switzerland, and its no-log policy has been independently audited. The VPN Plus plan costs under $3 a month on a two-year subscription, and our VPN rankings for Germany cover it for use in the country.

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3. ExpressVPN: Best for Switching Servers Quickly

ExpressVPN lists four German locations: Berlin, Frankfurt 1, Frankfurt 3, and Nuremberg. Connections take one to two seconds, which helps when a stream blocks one server and you move to the next. Speed on its Berlin server was 174.72 Mbps, and no German channel we tried blocked it, including Netflix Germany. The apps look the same on Windows, Mac, Fire TV, and phones, with one button to connect.

MediaStreamer covers consoles and smart TVs through a DNS setting. Advanced users have fewer settings to change, and there’s still no multi-hop option. Two years of the Basic plan come to under $3 a month. Our ExpressVPN review goes deeper, and the ExpressVPN vs NordVPN comparison sets the two side by side.

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German TV on a Trip in the EU

German residents on a short trip in the EU keep their paid subscriptions. Under the EU’s portability rules, in force since 2018, services such as Joyn PLUS+, Netflix, DAZN, and WOW must keep working in other EU and EEA countries, and RTL+ keeps its on-demand library available there. Some add conditions: Joyn PLUS+ requires the subscription to start in Germany and a sign-in from Germany every 180 days.

The rules don’t oblige free services, and ARD chose to stay out. ARD and ZDF programs restricted to Germany and Joyn’s free tier stay blocked on those trips. Portability also ends at the EU’s borders. It doesn’t cover the UK, Switzerland, or the US, and it doesn’t apply to Germans who live abroad permanently. In those places, a German server is the only way to watch.

Free German TV, With and Without a VPN

ARD Mediathek, ZDF, arte, and Joyn’s free tier cost nothing, and RTL+ has a few free episodes. Outside Germany, here’s what to expect:

• Without a VPN: some ARD regional streams, such as BR, hr, mdr, and WDR during our test, and ZDF news programs like heute journal.
• With a VPN: the full ARD Mediathek and ZDF catalogs, Joyn’s free channels after a sign-up, and RTL+’s free episodes.
• By satellite: Astra 19.2°E broadcasts Das Erste HD and ZDF HD free-to-air across much of Europe. ARD and ZDF stopped free-to-air broadcasts on Hotbird in 2017.

For a free VPN, Windscribe and PrivadoVPN unblocked ARD, ZDF, Joyn, and Netflix Germany on their free Frankfurt servers, and streams played without stuttering. Their free plans are limited to 10 GB a month, about five hours of HD video. Windscribe’s 10 GB requires a confirmed email address, and PrivadoVPN’s allowance has to be renewed by hand each month. Hide.me’s free plan has no data limit, but streams buffered.

They took 5 to 6 seconds to start, while streams on the paid VPNs started almost instantly, and paused for 2 to 3 seconds every 15 to 20 seconds after that. Hide.me also couldn’t unblock Netflix Germany. Our free VPN rankings for Germany compare the three in more detail. The same method works for other countries’ channels, as our guide to watching Canadian TV abroad shows.

If a German Stream Won’t Play

• Clear cookies or open a private window after connecting, since sites can remember your earlier location.
• Switch to another German city, such as Frankfurt instead of Berlin.
• Use the website if your app store doesn’t list the Joyn or ZDF app.
• Check the plan on RTL+: live TV requires the Premium plan, and the Basic plan covers on-demand shows only.

Final Thoughts

How much you need a VPN depends on where you are. In the EU, a German subscription to RTL+, Joyn PLUS+, or Netflix keeps working on a short trip, and only ARD, ZDF, and the free Joyn tier remain restricted. Outside the EU, nearly everything is geo-blocked except a few regional ARD channels and ZDF’s news programs, so connecting to Germany is the simplest fix.

NordVPN unblocked every channel we tried and covers Samsung and LG TVs through Smart DNS. Proton VPN was the quickest on its Berlin server, and ExpressVPN’s quick connections make it easy to switch servers.

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