Moving overseas rarely changes what Australians want to watch: the footy on the weekend, The Block on a Sunday night, the ABC news over breakfast. The problem is that 9Now, 7plus, 10, ABC iview, and SBS On Demand stream only to viewers in Australia.
Try to watch Australian TV overseas, and the video won’t play, even though most of these services are free at home. Travelers face the same block on a two-week holiday, and so do fans of Australian drama and reality TV in other countries.
Fortunately, a VPN with Australian servers fixes it in a few minutes, and the free channels require nothing a VPN can’t provide. So, here’s the simple setup that works reliably.
Quick Steps for Australian Streaming in 2026
- Get a NordVPN subscription and install the app to your phone, laptop, or TV.
- Launch the VPN and connect to a server in Australia, such as Melbourne or Sydney.
- Create a free account on the channel’s website. Where a form requires a postcode, any valid Australian one works.
- Pick a show or a live channel and press play.
How Australian Broadcasters Check Your Location
Most of what Australian networks air is licensed for Australia alone, and the overseas rights to the same shows and matches belong to other broadcasters. The free channels also earn their money from ads aimed at Australian viewers.
As a result, every major Australian streaming service checks where you are before a stream starts. SBS goes as far as saying that even Australian citizens can’t use SBS On Demand while overseas. The check reads your IP address, which tells a website roughly where you’re connecting from.
With an Australian IP address, the channels assume you’re watching from Australia. Without one, 7plus keeps loading without ever starting the video, and the other services show a geo-restriction message.
Connecting to Australia With a VPN
Connect your VPN to an Australian server, then visit 9Now, 7plus, or another channel in your browser or its app. The VPN sends your traffic through that server, so the channel sees an Australian IP address instead of the one your internet provider assigned.
NordVPN, Proton VPN, and ExpressVPN have Australian VPN servers in 5 cities: Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. Any of them works for streaming, so pick the city that’s fastest on your connection.
In our November tests, the five free channels worked on the three VPNs, both live and on demand. Sign-up is free on the five services, and some, such as 9Now and 7plus, require an Australian postcode. A valid postcode found online is enough.
Australia is a long way from most other countries, though, so a stream can take a few extra seconds to start. From our test PC in Europe, that delay came and went, and once a show started, it played smoothly.
Unblock TV Content With NordVPN
Free and Paid Australian Streaming Services
Besides an Australian IP address, each service has its own requirements:
| Service | Cost | Requires | Known for |
| 9Now | Free | Free account with an Australian postcode | The Block, Married at First Sight, NRL |
| 7plus | Free | Free account with an Australian postcode | AFL, cricket, Home and Away |
| 10 (formerly 10Play) | Free | Free account | MasterChef Australia, Survivor, Big Brother |
| ABC iview | Free | Free ABC account for on-demand shows | ABC News, Gardening Australia, ABC Kids |
| SBS On Demand | Free | Free SBS account | World Movies, SBS Food, NITV |
| Kayo Sports | Paid | Australian mobile number and payment card | Every AFL and NRL match |
| Binge | Paid | Paid subscription | Drama series and movies |
| Foxtel Go | Paid | Foxtel subscription | Fox Footy, Fox League, Fox Cricket |
| Stan | Paid | Paid subscription | Stan originals, Premier League on Stan Sport |
In our tests, NordVPN, Proton VPN, and ExpressVPN unblocked the five free services, Kayo, Binge, and Foxtel’s sign-up page. Paid services are the harder part, however.
Kayo requires an Australian mobile number and card at sign-up, which a VPN can’t provide, so it’s easiest to subscribe before you leave Australia.
Australian Shows and Where They Stream
Most of Australia’s biggest shows are free to stream, split across five services:
- 9Now: The Block, Married at First Sight, and a 24/7 Block channel during the season.
- 10: MasterChef Australia, Australian Survivor, Big Brother, Gogglebox, and The Traitors.
- 7plus: The Voice Australia, Home and Away, and Australian Idol.
- ABC iview: Gardening Australia, Back Roads, Australian Story, and the ABC News channel.
- SBS On Demand: World Movies, SBS Food, NITV, and a large catalog of international dramas.
Networks also trade shows from time to time. For example, I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! aired on 10 in 2026, and it moves to Seven in 2027.
AFL, NRL, and Cricket From Overseas
Australian sport is split between free TV and Kayo. Seven streams part of the AFL season free on 7plus, including a dedicated AFL channel. Meanwhile, Nine shows three NRL games a week on 9Now, plus State of Origin and the Grand Final.
Kayo has every AFL and NRL match, and Seven and Kayo share the cricket. Since Optus Sport closed in 2025, the Premier League has streamed on Stan Sport. The leagues also sell their own passes outside Australia, with no VPN required.
Watch AFL streams every AFL match live and on demand to viewers abroad, and Watch NRL does the same for rugby league. Watch NRL subscriptions move to DAZN from November 6, 2026. Tennis fans can also stream the Australian Open, which Nine broadcasts free on 9Now each January.
Official Options Outside Australia
A few Australian channels and shows are available abroad without a VPN:
- UK: Home and Away airs on Channel 5, with daytime episodes on the 5 app and evening episodes on 5Star.
- US, Canada, the UK, parts of Europe, and Singapore: free ABC channels have streamed on LG Channels, the free service on LG smart TVs, since mid-2026. Shows include Gardening Australia, Back Roads, and Restoration Australia.
- New Zealand: Australian networks don’t stream to New Zealand, so The Voice Australia and other 7plus shows still require an Australian IP address.
SBS, on the other hand, has no international service, and the full catalogs of 9Now, 7plus, and 10 remain available only in Australia.
Watching on a Smart TV, Fire Stick, or Apple TV
Australian channel apps appear only in Australian app stores. The 9Now app shows up once the store region is set to Australia. On Fire TV, the 7plus app requires an Amazon account set to Australia as well. Changing a store region can require a local payment method, though, so a browser is often quicker.
In our tests, 9Now’s website worked in a phone browser with no app installed. On a TV, the simplest setup is a streaming stick or box that runs a VPN app, such as an Apple TV or a Fire TV Stick. A Samsung or LG set doesn’t support VPN apps.
That means the VPN goes on your router instead, covering every device at home. Casting the stream from your phone works too.
Fixes When an Australian Channel Won’t Play
- 7plus keeps loading or the player is blank: disconnect, then pick a server in another Australian city.
- A geo-restriction message appears with the VPN on: clear the channel’s cookies or open a private window, because the site may remember your earlier location.
- The app still thinks you’re abroad: close it completely and reopen it after the VPN connects.
- A phone shows an Australia-only message: deny the browser permission to use your location, then reload the page.
Three VPNs With Fast Australian Servers
| VPN | Melbourne server (Mbps) | Fastest other Australian server (Mbps) |
| NordVPN | 137.66 | 135.60 (Perth) |
| Proton VPN | 101.53 | 79.97 (Perth) |
| ExpressVPN | 118.09 | 125.26 (Sydney) |
NordVPN: Best for Fast Australian Streams
Pros
- Servers in every mainland state capital
- Split tunneling for apps that stay local
- Apps for Fire TV and Android TV
- Chrome extension for streaming in the browser
Con
- Higher price after the first term
NordVPN was the fastest VPN on Australian servers in our tests, and its Melbourne server kept enough speed for 4K. Its servers unblocked every free channel and Kayo. The app also lists obfuscated servers in Australia, which disguise VPN traffic on hotel or office Wi-Fi that blocks VPNs.
On other restricted networks, those servers help with unblocking websites too. The price increases after the first term, so the longest plan keeps the lower rate for the most time. The Basic plan covers every Australian server, so the higher tiers add nothing for streaming. In other words, you can keep your money.
Proton VPN: Best for a Wide Choice of Servers
Pros
- Hundreds of Australian servers
- Server load shown before you connect
- Apple TV and Android TV apps
- VPN Accelerator for distant servers
Con
- Large speed loss on distant servers such as Australia’s
Proton VPN lists 281 servers across five Australian cities, so a busy server is easy to replace. It lost more speed in Australia than NordVPN and ExpressVPN, but live channels and on-demand shows still played smoothly. If a stream starts slowly, switching to a quieter server in the same city usually helps.
Privacy is Proton VPN’s other strength. Proton is a Swiss company, and an independent firm audits its no-logs policy each year. Australian servers come with the paid VPN Plus plan, so the free tier, as much as it’s appealing, won’t be ideal here.
ExpressVPN: Best for Sydney Servers
Pros
- Multiple Sydney locations
- Simple layout for first-time users
- Lightway protocol chosen automatically
- Apps for Apple TV and Fire TV
Con
- Few settings to customize
ExpressVPN recorded its quickest Australian result on a Sydney server, close behind NordVPN’s Perth speed. Its app lists seven Australian locations in five cities, and it always connected within seconds in our tests.
Beyond Australia, it unblocked Netflix in the US, Canada, and Japan in our streaming tests. There’s little to customize beyond the protocol and the kill switch. For Australian TV, that’s rarely a problem, because the default settings worked with every channel we tried.
Free VPN Options
Australian servers are paid-only on every reputable free VPN. Proton VPN’s free plan assigns servers from a short list of countries that leaves out Australia. Windscribe, PrivadoVPN, and Hide.me don’t include it on their free plans either.
Hola lists Australia, but it keeps logs of users’ IP addresses. For a short trip, the paid VPNs come with 30-day money-back guarantees, and NordVPN also offers a three-day free trial on Android.
Conclusion
Australia’s free channels are easy to watch from abroad once your connection shows an Australian IP address. Connect to a server there, create the free account each service requires, and the five free services play as they do at home.
Paid sport and drama take more planning, because services such as Kayo require Australian payment details. Before paying for any sport service, though, check whether Watch AFL or Watch NRL already covers your team from overseas.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do Australian broadcasters allow VPN use?
No. Their terms of use limit streams to viewers in Australia. Using a VPN is still legal in Australia and in most other countries, including the UK and US.
Can 10 (formerly 10Play) be watched outside Australia?
Yes, with an Australian IP address. 10, the free service that replaced 10Play, blocks viewers abroad, and an Australian VPN server unblocks its live channels and episodes.
How can The Block be watched from overseas?
The Block streams free on 9Now, which only serves Australian IP addresses. A VPN set to an Australian server and a free 9Now account unblock new episodes and the live channel.
Can The Voice Australia be watched in New Zealand?
Yes, with a VPN. The Voice Australia streams free on 7plus, which blocks New Zealand viewers, so a connection to an Australian server is required to watch it from there.
Does ABC iview work outside Australia?
No. ABC iview restricts its streams to Australian IP addresses, so viewers abroad require a VPN server in Australia, plus a free ABC account for on-demand programs.
Which VPN is best for watching Australian TV?
NordVPN, which has servers across Australia and apps for streaming devices such as Fire TV and Apple TV. Proton VPN is a strong alternative, with hundreds of Australian servers and Swiss privacy protections.