New EU regulations on streaming Netflix abroad

As of April 1st, there are new rules related to streaming Netflix and other streaming services abroad. You can now bring your subscription with you, and watch your “home” content, even when abroad.

If you have traveled to another country in the EU before and opened your Netflix subscription, you have for sure noticed that you get access to totally different content. That is because there are copyright regulations making sure that you only access content on Netflix available in the country you are currently visiting. Maybe you have watched a brilliant series on Netflix in the UK (at home), but as you traveled to France, you discovered that the TV series wasn’t available there. But, that has just changed!

Netflix EU regulations

As of April 1st EU has introduced some new regulations, meaning that you should be able to watch your home content on Netflix, Amazon Prime, and other services as you visit other EU countries. I have not been able to try it myself yet, but it definitely sounds interesting. This will make the use of VPN’s unnecessary as you try to watch UK Netflix in other EU countries (if your account is registered in the UK), as you will automatically get access to that content. But, if you visit a country outside the EU, those regulations will no longer impact you and your streaming experience.

But, for this to work it is important that Netflix can see that you have normally visited Netflix from an IP address in your home country. They also need to confirm that you pay for the Netflix services with a payment card issued in the given country. It might be that this will work well, but I have yet to try it.

Will this cause trouble for VPN’s?

I have written lots of articles on how to access other Netflix regions. But, imagine if you live in Spain and want access to UK Netflix? If you follow my instructions and use the VPN that I recommend, will it now work? Or will Netflix interrupt and see that you are an EU member with a Spanish membership, paid for with a Spanish card, and thus it will still give you the Spanish catalog, even though you use a VPN with an IP address in the UK? I don’t know yet, but it will be interesting to follow this as it develops.

Do you have any experience with this already? Have you tried streaming content from your home region while abroad in the EU? Did it work?

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