A Saturday afternoon can be damn long for a real football fan. Although the "Sportschau" on TV channel Erste is a cult show, it only starts after the official afternoon games and only offers summaries. Let's be honest:
The heart of real ball boys and girls beats live. The good news: if you live abroad, for example on Mallorca, you don't have to do without live broadcasts.
Television via Astra
First choice is television via satellite. However, the only live events available here are usually international matches, major sporting events or important clashes, such as opening games or cup finals. In Spain, there is no problem targeting and tuning into a TV satellite such as Astra or Hotbird. For the technical details, it is important to know the compass direction and the angle of inclination above the horizon. The key is aligned accordingly. Instructions are available on the Internet. If you are not confident enough to do it yourself, you can hire a TV technician. Meanwhile, there are also many self-employed people who are happy to adjust the system accordingly for little money.
TV from the net
Streaming via the internet is a practical option. The prerequisites are a stable and fast connection and a fast PC to avoid interruption of the images. All German television channels offer recordings and live broadcasts. So-called geo-blocking has been prohibited since 2018. This means that the services and videos should be freely available in every country. Nevertheless, you still come across such barriers and blocking notices time and again. These can be circumvented by using a Virtual Private Network (VPN). A VPN pretends that the end device - in this case your home computer - is located in Germany. This circumvents geoblocking.
Pay TV abroad
The market leader in pay TV and Bundesliga football is Sky. All matches are broadcast live and in summary form. There are also conference broadcasts. The services are available in SD and HD quality.
Since April 1, 2018, Sky customers have been able to use the streaming services with mobile devices throughout the EU. These include the Sky Go, Sky Store, Sky Sport, Sky Ticket and Blue Movie packages. According to the company, no changes or settings need to be made. However, it is important that the stay in another European country is limited in time and that customers continue to be resident in Germany or Austria. This is checked by the sender itself by logging in regularly in the respective home country. Anyone who forgets to do this will be reminded by email.
Verification is importantProvider DAZN also relies on home country loyalty for its streaming options abroad. Anyone wishing to use the services in other EU countries must have their main place of residence in Germany, Austria or Italy. In addition to the regular subscription, verification is required for cross-border streaming ("portability abroad").
Verification takes place automatically as soon as you log in to DAZN. The following conditions must be met at the time of verification for portability abroad:
• The current IP address used to access the account must match the country in which you have registered. • The current IP address used to access the account must match the country of the registered payment method.
Experience sport locally
Football knows no borders and no language barriers. "Real friends come together", sing the fans. True to this motto, it is always worthwhile for residents to take a look over the edge of the pitch and thus into the local sports and football events. Television in the host country offers plenty of live broadcasts. The experience is particularly interesting and entertaining when teams play against German teams. The fact that this also gives you a certain feel for the language is a wonderful side effect.
