By Julia Newman 20 days ago, Apps and Software
The popularity of the CW is constantly growing due to free access to content. So, it will be useful for you to learn how to watch the CW outside the US as the service is only available to residents of the States. Like other geographically restricted streaming services, the CW blocks access for people who live outside of their broadcast region.
Restrictions are set by geo-blocking: the CW checks the IP address of the viewing device to find out if you are in the States. You can’t watch the CW abroad, and if you try to access CW releases outside of the United States, you will get a regional error message.
However, there are workarounds how to watch the CW outside the US:
The CW is an American broadcast television network, also known as CWTV or CW Seed, formed from the merger of CBS and Warner Bros. The CW offers several shows and series for free that are hard to find anywhere else. But due to licensing restrictions, they are only available to viewers in North America. The latest prime-time episodes of each show are available the day after they are broadcast in the United States.
To get around the geographical error, you need to change your location on the Internet: make the CW think that you are in the United States. The VPN service lets you redirect URLs that determine your location. It provides hundreds of servers in the US. As soon as you connect, you take an American IP address and it’s like you’re browsing the Internet directly from the US.
A VPN has several other advantages. It encrypts your network traffic, preventing it from being read by any third-party observers, including your Internet service provider (ISP) or hackers. This protects you from targeted advertising, prevents your Internet service provider from selling your browsing habits to third parties, and lets you remain anonymous online:
STEP 1. Pick a VPN service with servers in the USA. Select one of the best VPNs for travel. ExpressVPN and Surfshark provide Smart DNS servers that can handle any geo-blocking. PureVPN and CyberGhost are affordable and offer a vast array of speedy servers in the USA.
STEP 2. Download the VPN software by picking the appropriate version for your device or browser extensions.
STEP 3. Launch the VPN application or browser extension and connect to the server in the USA. For maximum speed, select the servers that are located closer to the source of the broadcast.
STEP 4. Visit the CW Network website or log in to its app and pick the content to watch. Now you can watch the CW from abroad. If this doesn’t work, try clearing your browser’s cookies and reloading the page.
The CW is a cable channel as well, so you can include it in any package of your cable TV provider if you are in the US or in certain parts of Canada. If you want to have everything the CW has to offer on the air, Hulu offers it as part of the Live TV package, which includes a whole bunch of channels and streaming offers.
Hulu is only available to people with an IP address in the US. If you aren’t in the US, you will need to use a VPN for Hulu to bypass the VPN service ban.
Another way to watch CW online is to visit the CW website, enter the name of what you want to watch in the search bar. The CW offers the last few episodes of each show live on the site with an integrated player for free but with ads. Overall, it is a pretty good deal and a great way to catch up on a live show or if you missed the episode.
However, the CW is only blocked for visitors from the US, so you will again need a virtual private network to log in. VPN changes your location so you can pretend to be in the States. The block set by CW is not very serious, so take advantage of the best VPNs for streaming.
You don’t need to have a cable TV provider account to enjoy your favorite CW shows. There are several DNS services, such as playmoTV that help you block ads, bypass censorship and access the website without any restrictions.
STEP 1. Sign up for a playmoTV trial account (it takes less than a minute if you sign up via Facebook).
STEP 2. Connect your computer or device to the playmoTV gateway in order to access the CW.
STEP 3. Start broadcasting via the CW app or their website.
If you have an active account on playmoTV and you are connected to their DNS gateway, then you can watch the CW anywhere in the world on supported devices.
Another way how to watch the CW outside US is to use SmartDNS. This technology is supported by ExpressVPN and Surfshark. It conceals the real location by intercepting an Internet connection and redirecting requests from your domain name server (DNS) to a server in another country. This way, you will control your IP address.
This can’t be configured on your own. You have to enable activate SmartDNS by contacting and registering your IP address with your VPN service. The service will grant you a DNS server address that can be used to manually configure DNS settings on the device. As the devices and services vary, I suggest contacting the provider’s technical support for help.
In the US. I should note that CW content is also available on other on-demand platforms, such as Netflix or Hulu. But there is a certain delay in adding new content. Hulu users have to wait about two months for an episode, while Netflix gets the entire series right after it finishes.
CWTV can be accessed directly through the browser, but there are also CW apps for Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Xbox One, iOS and Android tablets and smartphones. This list is long, and thankfully, you don't need any subscriptions that will cost you money to watch. Other similar networks require you to log in with an ID and password obtained from a network subscriber, or through a different platform, but not the CW.
In case you are watching CW via Hulu, Live TV is currently available only in Philadelphia, San Francisco, Atlanta, Tampa, Detroit, Seattle, Sacramento, Pittsburgh. So, you can use a VPN and access CW live. Besides, the live stream is available via YouTubeTV and DirecTV Now. Some episodes can be found in the extensive Netflix catalog.
