Listening to Test matches abroad

The BBC used to be a great institution, renowned all over the world as a benchmark for broadcasting standards. They brought us Monty Python and Fawlty Towers, a rich diet of music (and I mean real music, not overpaid pop stars) and drama, and of course well-researched documentaries and nature programmes. Some of that still exists, but their content now is ever-increasingly ratings conscious and we have to endure endless logos and adverts for their programmes. Anything “highbrow” seems to embarrass them and is relegated to the graveyard shift or digital channels; Estuary English is rife in the broadcasting service that brought us the term “BBC English” and we don’t even get much decent sport any more. Just before writing this (November 2008) there was a scandal where two of the more talentless BBC radio presenters left obscene messages on the answerphone of the veteran actor Andrew Sachs (best known as Fawlty Towers's hapless Manuel), and the BBC did nothing about it until they were inundated with complaints. Add the fact that they have become a mouthpiece for the Labour Party and I’ll freely admit that I think it is high time to make the BBC a normal commercial channel and scrap the exorbitant licence fee.

Still, for me one programme stands out as a shining beacon among the gloom. That, of course, is Test Match Special. Aggers and his team continue to delight us year after year with entertaining, informative cricket commentary. The cricket coverage is still quintessentially English, fair and impartial to both the home and the visiting teams, and untainted by the political correctness which pervades so much of their output. Even when rain stops play TMS is more entertaining than pretty much anything else the BBC have to offer. Yet even here the BBC seem to want to spoil our fun. Basically, the internet TMS commentary on foreign tours is restricted to UK broadband users only.

Now, I can readily accept the argument that UK licence payers can’t be expected to pay for entertaining people living abroad, as a general principle. But in this case, how much of a problem is that likely to be? Will there be millions of Americans, Europeans and Japanese tuning in to get the latest score? Since most countries don’t give a monkey’s about cricket it’s hardly likely. The people most likely to be affected are English expats like myself who have (and in my case at present, still do) paid the licence fee for at least some of their lives.

Games played in the UK don’t (yet) present a problem, but try to get the commentary for an Australian tour and the chances are that the pop-up player (Real or Windows Media Player) will sit on “connecting” without making any progress. What actually happens is that the BBC website recognises your IP address and blocks it if that IP address comes from a country other than the UK. Your IP address is determined by your internet service provider so if, say, you live in Hungary the IP address will identify this. Sometimes persistent clicking on the audio link can get you through by luck – maybe if a lot of people are logging on at any one time it’s easier to slip past the net – but generally this takes a long time and is very frustrating.

The way round this is to use a proxy server. What happens is that instead of connecting directly to a web site, you connect to another server, which does this for you. It’s like making a deal through an intermediary rather than directly. You need to find a proxy server in the UK, and once you’ve set your computer correctly what will happen is that when you click on the TMS audio link, the BBC site will see a UK IP address and let you through. So how do you do this?

Method 1: A palaver but free

You can do an internet search for UK proxy servers and there is plenty of information available. I would recommend this link: http://www.xroxy.com/proxy-country-GB.htm

Then do the following:

In Internet Explorer (6 or 7), click on the Tools menu and select Internet Options
Click on the Connections tab
Click on the LAN Settings button
Check the option to use a proxy server and the greyed-out spaces for address and port will light up
Enter the IP address of the proxy server and the port it requires
Click OK to close the LAN Settings dialogue box
Click OK to close the Internet Options dialogue box
Try connecting to the commentary and you should be able to listen to the cricket.

This may seem like an ideal solution to an annoying problem for cricket lovers living outside the UK, but it's only fair to set out the disadvantages of using a proxy server. Generally speaking these servers appear to be rather unreliable in that connection speeds are slow and that one that works well one day may not work at all the next. In fact since I wrote the first version of this piece, I would say that fewer and fewer of the proxy servers listed on the net have any functionality at all. You may get lucky, and find a connection that offers a fluent audio stream without annoying buffering breaks every fifteen seconds, but be prepared for a lot of frustration.

The decline in available proxy servers is baffling, but I've found enough evidence from like-minded cricket nuts to suggest that the BBC deny access to proxy servers as they find them. No doubt this involves paying the techies a substantial amount for their time – nice to know that our licence fee is being so usefully spent!

Even if you are lucky enough to get a proxy server to work, be aware that there is a potential security issue here in that you are routing the flow of data from the Internet to your computer via a third party about which you know very little. If you’re just listening to the cricket there’s no risk involved, but I strongly suggest you revert to normal browsing for things like online banking. All you have to do is uncheck the proxy option, and the proxy IP address and port will be saved but greyed out. You can always re-check the option and use the proxy again when the next match starts.

Method 2: Much more efficient but you have to pay

You can get programs that hide or disguise your IP address for you. Basically, the program routes your internet connection via a proxy server in a country of your choice. These proxy servers are much more reliable as you pay a subscription for them and they are therefore well-maintained. The program I would recommend is called Hide IP NG and here's the link . The program itself is free and a subscription of just under £40 got me two years of their service. I've tested it reasonably extensively; unlike the free proxies, the connection is fast and the only Web page I've so far found that doesn't work when using this service is their own sign-up page! Obviously these manufacturers know a thing or two. The program isn't perfect but so far I've been able to access all BBC material that would otherwise have been denied, and as I write I am listening to a one day international against India with an uninterrupted audio stream and video scorecard. Without Hide IP NG this would not have been possible.

There is nothing illegal about doing this. No doubt the BBC will eventually find a way to detect all proxy servers and block them, but in the meantime this is one way round what I see as a rather petty restriction. There are, of course, some people who use proxy servers to mask their identity for more sinister reasons. I neither condone, nor take responsibility for, the use of a proxy server to secure anonymity to abuse Internet forums like Facebook or for other mindless or criminal behaviour. I wrote this article simply to help those like myself who are frustrated by being unable to get hold of TMS while abroad. Enjoy the cricket and good luck to our team!