Watching home TV and live sport at a campsite abroad in Europe
Yes, at a campsite inside the EU you can usually watch your home TV and live sport, but only through your paid subscription. Since 1 April 2018 the EU Portability Regulation requires paid streaming services (such as HBO Max, Netflix, Disney+ or your national broadcaster's paid tier) to work across the whole EU and EEA during a temporary stay, at no extra cost. Free public broadcasters (like NPO Start in the Netherlands) are not covered and are often blocked abroad, even inside the EU. Outside the EU the rule does not apply, and even a paid app can refuse to work.
You are settled in at a campsite in France, you want to switch on the Tour de France or the evening news, and suddenly your TV app refuses to play. That is geo-blocking: apps read your IP address and see you are abroad. Below is exactly what is and isn't allowed, and how to make sure you don't miss a thing.
Why your TV app suddenly refuses to work abroad
Streaming services and broadcasters buy broadcast rights country by country. A broadcaster pays to show a series, film or sports event specifically to its home audience, while the same rights are sold to another party in France or Germany. To protect those country-specific deals, the service has to stop you watching the content abroad.
Technically this runs on geo-blocking: as soon as the app or site sees that your IP address falls outside your home country, the stream is locked. You often only notice at the campsite, when your favourite channel or live stream shows an error instead of a picture.
It is not everything, though. Of the dozens of programmes a public broadcaster puts online each day, only a small share is geo-blocked, usually foreign series, children's shows and big sports events for which only home rights were bought.
The EU Portability Regulation: your paid subscription travels with you
Since 1 April 2018 the EU Portability Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2017/1128) has applied. It requires providers of paid online content services to make your subscription just as available during a temporary stay in another EU country as it is at home, at no extra cost. It covers all EU countries plus the EEA countries Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
In practice this means paid services such as Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max and national paid tiers should simply work at a campsite in Spain or Italy. Some services even ask you to verify your home country once, after which you get the same catalogue on the road as at home.
Note two things. First, the rule applies only to paid subscriptions, not to free services. Second, it applies only to a temporary stay in the EU or EEA, not if you move permanently and not outside the EU.
Free broadcasters often stay locked
The frustrating flip side: the portability rule explicitly does not cover free services. A free public catch-up service is blocked abroad, inside and outside the EU. The free live streams of public news sites can also go dark at a campsite in France.
This is exactly where many campers get caught out during a big event. The 2026 Tour de France is free to follow in the Netherlands on public broadcaster NOS (via NPO 1 and NPO Start), but that free route often fails abroad. The paid alternatives, Eurosport and HBO Max, are covered by the portability rules and should travel with you inside the EU.
A few things do work everywhere: dedicated public news and politics channels are usually not geo-blocked. And for expats there are special services (such as BVN for Dutch and Flemish viewers) carrying news, sport and entertainment from home.
Prepare smartly: download in advance and check your apps
The simplest fix is to download episodes at home, on wifi, before you leave. Many paid services (Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, national paid tiers) let you store films and series offline on your phone or tablet. Downloads are not tied to a live stream, so you watch them at the campsite with no connection and no geo-blocking. For live sport this obviously does not work.
Test your apps a day before departure while you are still home: log in, update them, and check that your downloads are ready. That way you don't discover at the campsite that the subscription you wanted to bring is the free one, and therefore blocked.
Think about your campsite internet too. Campsite wifi is often too slow or too patchy for smooth HD live footage. Your own mobile data plan with enough EU roaming, or a local SIM, usually gives a more stable stream than the shared wifi at reception.
VPN: sometimes a fix, but be honest about the nuance
A VPN routes your traffic through a server in another country, so a service thinks you are at home. People use this to get around the geo-blocking of free catch-up services. Important: a VPN is no guarantee. Streaming services actively block known VPN servers, so it may work one day and not the next.
There is also a legal and contractual nuance. Using a VPN is not in itself banned in Europe, but bypassing geo-blocking often clashes with the streaming service's terms of use. In the worst case a service can restrict your account. Weigh that up.
The cleaner route is almost always to use your paid subscription that falls under EU portability, or to download in advance. A VPN is a last resort for free content, not a magic tool that works everywhere and always.
Frequently asked questions
Can my paid streaming service refuse to work at a campsite in the EU?+
Not just like that. Under the EU Portability Regulation (since 1 April 2018), paid services such as Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max and national paid tiers must work during a temporary stay in the EU and EEA just as they do at home, at no extra cost. If the app still refuses, it is usually a verification or login issue.
Why doesn't a free catch-up service work at a campsite abroad?+
Free services are not covered by the EU Portability Regulation, so they stay geo-blocked outside their home country, even inside the EU. To watch abroad you need a paid route, or you download content in advance on wifi.
How do I watch the 2026 Tour de France at a campsite abroad?+
In the Netherlands the Tour is free on public broadcaster NOS (NPO 1 and NPO Start), but that free route is often blocked abroad. The paid options Eurosport and HBO Max (with sport) fall under EU portability and should travel with you inside the EU and EEA. Outside the EU there is no guarantee.
Is it allowed to use a VPN to watch home TV?+
Using a VPN is not in itself banned in Europe, but bypassing geo-blocking usually clashes with the streaming service's terms of use, which can restrict your account in the worst case. Services also actively block known VPN servers, so success is not guaranteed.
What can I do to make sure I don't miss anything at the campsite?+
Download episodes at home on wifi before you leave using your paid app (that bypasses geo-blocking cleanly), and test all your apps a day ahead. For live sport, pick a paid service covered by EU portability, and arrange stable mobile internet instead of slow campsite wifi.
