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The only problem is that finding French TV channels you can watch online can be challenging, most of all if you don’t live in France.
That’s why I’ve done all of the hard work for you and created a list of the best French TV channels you can watch online. You’ll also find some Canadian and Belgian TV channels.
In some cases, you may need to install a VPN to avoid geographical restrictions though. That’s something I show you how to do in the first part of this article.
While there are French TV channels you can watch for free from abroad, most won’t be available by default.
When this happens, you will see a message like this:
Sorry, Eurosport Player isn’t accessible from your country.
That’s because most French channels can only be watched from France.
Luckily, there is a simple way to avoid this problem: using a VPN.
When you use a VPN, your connection goes through a distant server.
For example, if you are in San Francisco, you can use a VPNserver located in Paris.
Then, all the websites will think you are in Paris, and you will have access to all the TV channels you couldn’t access before.
The bad news is that a good VPN (one that will be fast enough to watch videos and won’t show ads when you browse the web) costs money. The good news is that it won’t cost you more than your daily cup of coffee.
I recommend NordVPN because it’s fast and reliable and allows you to easily watch French TV online.
Very useful when you want to access TV channels and websites with geographical restrictions.
All you have to do is sign up for an account, install the software and choose the location you want. Once this done, you can watch all French TV channels which are normally restricted to people located in France.
NordVPN is the best way to watch French TV from anywhere in the world. It's fast, secure and allows you to watch French TV channels that are normally only accessible from France.
I earn a commission if you make a purchase. There is no additional cost for you.
You can also stream some French TV channels on Roku but will most likely need a VPN if you are not in France.
Now let’s discover the main French TV channels!
3 French TV channels you can watch for free
There are, unfortunately, very few French TV channels you can watch online from abroad without a VPN or French TV streaming service.
Here are 3 French TV channels that are still free to watch from abroad. I keep this list updated but I can’t guarantee that they will still be free when you read this article.
This TV channel offers programs both in French and in German.
Most of these programs are about culture, but Arte also broadcasts popular TV shows such as Breaking Bad.
If you speak German this is a great occasion to practice your French and you can easily watch the German version of the program if you didn’t understand something.
It’s unfortunately not available from abroad so you will need to use a VPN to watch it.
Euronews is a European TV channel on which you can watch programs about news, culture, technology and many other interesting topics.
The language is pretty formal, but each video comes with a transcript you can download, which makes Euronews one of the very best French TV channels to improve your French.
You can’t watch it live from abroad without a VPN but individual videos are still available.
As one of the main Belgian TV company, RTBF owns several TV channels and a large variety of programmes you can watch live online if you live in Belgium.
France TV allows you to watch French public TV channels online in real time or a few hours after they aired.
You can watch all kinds of programs, including French TV channels for kid, which is a great start if you are a beginner in French and don’t understand more serious topics.
Play TV is an online streaming website you can use to watch a broad selection of French TV channels online including:
TF1
France 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Canal +
LCI
Gulli
Unfortunately, not all French TV channels can be watched from abroad. In some cases, you may need to either use a VPN or subscribe to a French TV streaming service.
Over to you
Do you watch French TV? What’s your favorite French TV channel? Answer in the comments below this article!
Benjamin Houy
Benjamin Houy is a native French speaker and tea drinker with a BA degree in Applied Foreign Languages and a passion for languages. After teaching French and English in South Korea for 7 months as part of a French government program, he created French Together™ to help English speakers learn the 20% of French that truly matters.
103 thoughts on “19 French TV channels you can watch online from anywhere”
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In the U.S., EuroNews has been available to stream for a year+, not as an independent app, but within other free streaming apps. Tubi, DistroTV, and ROKU Channel — all three of which are available on both firesticks and ROKU sticks — carry the English language version of EuroNews. The latter two also carry the Spanish language version. Of the three ROKU Channel is the easiest to use, as once you play a Live channel it places that channel in its easy to find “Continue Watching” row.
France 24 has a free streaming app for ROKU sticks, but currently not for firesticks. In the U.S. you can watch it in French, English, or Spanish. It also lists Arabic, but does not actually provide that (at this time).
TV5Monde (no spaces) is available to stream on firestick but not ROKU. This broadcasts in French, with an option to turn on subtitles in English, French, German & Spanish.
Wow, this is such an excellent article. I greatly appreciate the links and ideas for watching French TV. I have enjoyed a few series in French language through Prime Video special channel subscription and may choose to do that again. I think it was Masterpiece Theatre that I found them on, but the number of shows was limited. I’m going to give your suggestions a try!
I realize this is an old post, but I hope I can get a response. I used to watch 6play online up until about 3 weeks ago, and suddenly I get the “Désolé, cette vidéo n’est pas accessible dans votre pays.” message, I was getting this message before in some shows, but now I am getting it on all shows, did anything change recently, because I had been watching this online website for over 3 years without any issues. If I get the VPN, would I be able to Watch these channels, 6play or M6,? I am really missing my shows, I am in California btw, if that makes any difference.
Netflix , PBS Masterpiece, Prime Video, and MhZ are American TV streaming services that offer French programs. My favorite series are “Call my Agent”/“Dix Pour-cent”, (Netflix) and “Murder in Paris”/ “ »Profilage”(PBS Masterpiece). People rave about “Un Village Français » which is on Prime Video and MhZ. L’Engrenage/ The Spiral on Netflix is also very popular.
Salut,Benjamin!
Je regarde France 3 presque toujour.Je dois pratiquer mon français pour un nouveau emploi avec le gouvernment du Canada avec notre recensement.
J’aime beaucoup la série <>, et je vois qu’il y a une nouvelle série dite <>!
Pour essayer de comprendre le français parlé,ça vaut la peine de l’écouter.On doit rester fidèle tout de même et n’abandonne pas de l’écouter.Il me fallait une semaine de commencer à tout entendre,mais après ce temps-là on commence à comprendre meilleure.
J’espère que cette information aidera quelques-uns de vos abonnés.
J’avais étudié français il y a plus de 50 années au lycée et à l’université,et j’ai trouvé que la pratique et parlée et écrite sont les meilleures façons d’apprendre et de pratiquer français.D’accord que je continue à faire de petites fautes et ainsi je continue à pratiquer.
Je m’étais inscrit aussi avec Tandem,mais j’avais dû la terminer car je n’ai reçu que des inquêtes de plusieurs hommes qui cherchaient une “easy touch”,bien que j’ai 71 ans!Il y avait une femme qui ne voulait que parler et je suis je suis en communication avec elle à travers Skype.
J’espère que ces informations, pas cette information
J’avais étudié le français il y a plus de 50 ans au lycée et à l’université et j’ai découvert que parler et écrire sont les meilleurs moyens d’apprendre et de pratiquer le français.
meilleure que <>
Je m’étais abonnée est meilleure que je m’avais inscrite
L’abonnement est masculin.
Et toutes ces corrections car je suis un peu paresseuse. Yikes!
We live at the end of a very long landline and get extremely poor bandwidth (0.87 Mbps.) Downloads take for ever and ISPs don’t even try to sell us TV channels. But we can view Arte perfectly, without interruption. Can any explain how that is possible, please?
sometimes even though you use a vpn some website still block you from watching, because it only accept some selected ISP like ( Orange, Sfr, Bouygues Telecom … ) regardless the ip.
Hello Ben
Thanks for such details!
My interest is to find live OR streaming programs of Opera, like from Paris or Aix du Provence (festival).
An example is today’s (July 9th) telecast of Puccini’s TOSCA from Aix.
I have found articles via google saying it is on CulturalBox (streaming) at sometime following live on FranceTV.
Is there a Guide (grid) showing the current content on some or many of the channels in your listing? for FranceTV (multiple, side by side)?
Realize will likely need a VPN so thanks for your recommendation (and disclosure)!
I speak some French and my wife is fluent. We would like to get TV5 and other channels without cable TV. First, is this possible? If so, how to we go about doing so?
Thank you, Mati & David
I’m so confused, I just set up a Roku thinking I’d be able to get TV5MONDE bouquet, but I have to subscribe to both Comcast Xfinity AND Sling? Aren’t they both cable services? I pay 15 to watch basic tv monde already, how much is Sling, and why did they choose the worst service to only show their programming on? Thanks, I’ll take any advice!
I have gotten a lot out of “7 Jours Sur La Planète” over the years, on TV5 Monde. The website says it’s airing at 10h30 on Saturdays altho’ it’s not on our cable system’s schedule at the moment. The subtitles are in French, not English, which I find helpful when listening to news ‘readers’ who race through their scripts at 1.5 times the spoken rate.
Many thanks for this recommendation (7 Jours Sur La Planète) on TV5Monde, as the French subtitles are very helpful. It looks like a whole bunch of videos are available on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/user/7jours) as well.
Thanks for the link, it’s great especially as you say, with the wonderful French subtitles. It’s the receptive side of French that I have trouble with and they seem to speak too fast for me so this is excellent for me to try to pick up what they’re saying. I could even slow the video down if I wish 😀
I use VPNexpress to watch French channels and now M6 is getting smarter and it s blocking me even with the vpn on, I called and nothing could make it work.. !! do you know any other vpn that will let me watch M6?
merci
There is a popular Norwegian show called Skam and recently versions in French, Italian and German came out. You can watch in online with subtitles on dailymotion or the original without subtitles on france tv slash. I highly recommend it!
Hello there
I liked your article. I am starting to learn French but finding some difficulty in pronouncing the words and as you said tv helps. Can you please recommend some dramas or series in french that are fun and easy to get
I haven’t used HMA in a while so I can’t comment on the speed but you could try a few different servers if you haven’t. This usually does the trick for me when i use a VPN.
Can I have a 30 day trial or something on VPN to try “before you buy”. I m looking for only french channel to expose my baby to the french language beside me only speaking to him.
C’est très étrange que toutes les communautés ont un accès très simple pour voire la télé de leurs pays aux États Unis …et c’est très difficile pour les communautés française d’accéder leurs canaux hors de la France …c’est très bizarre
Je suis libanais et les chaînes française sont disponible partout au Liban.
I’ve just purchased Hide My Ass’s one-year plan. (Initially I wanted to buy the 2-year plan at NordVPN, but every single time the purchase wasn’t successful and I got frustrated.)
Fun fact: an ass is another name for a donkey (un âne).
In English, the expression would be Hide my arse. The arse is your bum (gluteus) whilst an ass is a type of equine animal cross between horse and donkey. In American (USA “english”) they say ass incorrectly meaning bottom (for gluteus) and use the word “bum” to refer to a vagrant.
In the US., not sure about elsewhere, but “hide my ass” would just be a way of saying “hide me” or “hide my location” in this case. “My ass” is also generally how people refer to themselves quite often actuality, crudely though. Then again there’s an old saying in the US (showing my age here) “I’m going to hide your ass.” Or “I’m going to tan your hide” meaning “I’m going to beat your ass (beat you up)” or if your Dad ever said this to you then it would mean that you’ve been a naughty, naughty kid and he’s going to spank you, a lot.
Where I live we have a channel package called DSTV and on it there’s TV5 monde . There I like watching ‘Tactik’. I also liked ‘Teenager’ , but that ended. This new show, ‘Bambino’ looks promising. Also if I’m at home, I sometimes watch ‘Tout le monde veut prendre sa place’
I also watch Star Parade for the French music aspect.
My wife and I, reside in the US, and would like to watch French TV to practice our French listening skills.
The technology involved (VPN etc) is not a problem. What we wanted to know is it appears most of the online streaming services (e.g. myft1, tv5monde etc) require an account login to be setup, which most likely also wants a French email address.
Or do the streaming clients bypass the login requirements and just present the menu selection ?
Thanks for any guidance on setting up login accounts for the online streaming TV services.
Last time I tried, these services didn’t require a French email address, so you should be able to use it without any problem as long as you’re using a French VPN server.
I’m french, and if you wan to know the best channels : Tf1, France 2, France 3, M6, arte (for documentary), w8, w9, nrj12(telereality *arghhhh*..), 14 and guli (for kids) …
Thanks you !
If you are stuck for using a VPN , try Zenmate on Mozilla. I live in the UK and my provider, Virgin, has blocked numerous sites for watching tv, but using Zenmate, you bypass this, also if you upgrade you can change the country, so because my Wife is French, i subscribe to the premium monthly amount and change my VPN to France. Happy Days
Thanks for the recommendation Jeff. I edited your comment to delete the mention of a specific streaming website though as I’m not sure it’s entirely legal.
Unfortunately Netflix no longer supports streaming while using a VPN. So it’s not longer possible to what my favorite American shows in French; and the French content on Netflix is extremely limited.
That’s truly a shame. I hope the movie industry will one day understand that geographical restrictions will only do one thing: convince people to use illegal streaming websites.
Look at FilmonTV. (www.filmon.com) They broadcast 10 FranceTV stations in low definition for free. On a computer, they look great. News stations broadcast high definition (well, 480p) for free. For a nominal fee, you can get HD.
I tried HMA, and it slowed down my internet connection from 80 Mbps to .8 Mbps … is there a special way it has to be setup so it doesn’t slow it down so bad that video isn’t impossible? Right now it takes half a minute to load google!
It’s definitely not supposed to do that. Did you try different locations? In my experience, this could also be due to a conflict with your antivirus. But the best way to solve that would be to contact HMA directly.
I contacted them directly. They gave me a different version which allowed me to choose more server locations. I found some that weren’t as slow but watching video is still hard. Only difference is my 80Mbps connection only gets decreased to about 2 or 3 Mbps … They told me that is to be expected …
Hi Benjamin,
I miss having TV5 Monde (we had cable in the Bistib area before we moved to another state). We are trying to use other options besides cable now. Do you know if there is a way to watch it with Hulu or Netflix or some other option?
Hi Benjamin, thank you for the link. It seems to only have some shows. Can you watch everything on the channel including the movies? When I did a search for Télématin, it get a page with this message: Vidéo non disponible dans votre région du monde. If I get. VPN, will that solve the problem?
They don’t seem to have movies. Only documentaries and shows.
But having a VPN would definitely solve your problem. They don’t let you watch this show, because you are not in France. If you find a VPN with a server in France, you can watch it. Hide My Ass is pretty cool for that.
I live in the US and have a Netflix account. I am disappointed by how little French audio content they have, but it does exist. So I signed up for a proxy service so I could try out TV5 Monde. Before creating a TV5 account, I decided to check out Netflix. I’m glad I did. There are of course more French movies to choose from; and a number of US shows dubbed in French with French subtitles. These same US shows don’t offer French audio if accessing Netflix from the US.
My biggest complaint is that the audio and subtitles appears to be translated independent of each other. So when watching the Big Bang Theory in French w/French subtitles you’ll hear and read two different ways Sheldon tells Penny “That’s my spot”.
Yeah Netflix’s content changes a lot depending on the country you are in. That’s why i also use a VPN all the time.
The subtitle problem is probably due to the fact that French sentences seem to be quite long, so it may not be possible to include whole sentences in the subtitles. I believe Yabla has content whose subtitles match the audio. And I also plan to include subtitles that are identical to the audio when I publish videos on French Together.
Thank you for the information Benjamin. I am Indonesian and currently studying in Toulouse. Though I already learn French for more than 2 years, it is still difficult for me to master this language. Need to be more patient. The difficult is that sometimes French does not always have patient to respond to someone with different accent, just like me:) ahahaa,,,Thanks anyway
You could find a French tandem partner, that would help you a lot to practice, because he/she would be learning Indonesian and teaching your French :).
Thanks for the information in this article. The thing is, I don’t understand French people when they talk. They talk too quickly. I only catch a few separate words from every sentence.
So my question is, isn’t there a way I can watch french TV (French movies for example) with subtitles?
I was watching a TV5 Quebec videos from Australia without a VPN so it must be possible for at least some shows. Not a whole channel but I know Netflix US has all the seasons of Engrenages and Hulu has Braqo.
I watch TV5Monde. It is available from my cable company (and most dish servers, I think). It has an online website (just Google “Tv5” or “TV5monde” or “TV5 France,” etc. But I am very grateful for the information in this e-mail!
I hope this is helpful. TV5 doesn’t always have on what I want to watch.
I would like to stick to resources that don’t involve cable television, as I have gotten rid of it, keeping only my broadband access. Even if I did subscribe to cable television, I can’t watch it anywhere but home, which is limiting; NYC’s cable providers charge extra for French and other international channels.
So please keep sharing online resources we can enjoy anywhere!
Euronews
In the U.S., EuroNews has been available to stream for a year+, not as an independent app, but within other free streaming apps. Tubi, DistroTV, and ROKU Channel — all three of which are available on both firesticks and ROKU sticks — carry the English language version of EuroNews. The latter two also carry the Spanish language version. Of the three ROKU Channel is the easiest to use, as once you play a Live channel it places that channel in its easy to find “Continue Watching” row.
France 24 has a free streaming app for ROKU sticks, but currently not for firesticks. In the U.S. you can watch it in French, English, or Spanish. It also lists Arabic, but does not actually provide that (at this time).
TV5Monde (no spaces) is available to stream on firestick but not ROKU. This broadcasts in French, with an option to turn on subtitles in English, French, German & Spanish.
Wow, this is such an excellent article. I greatly appreciate the links and ideas for watching French TV. I have enjoyed a few series in French language through Prime Video special channel subscription and may choose to do that again. I think it was Masterpiece Theatre that I found them on, but the number of shows was limited. I’m going to give your suggestions a try!
I realize this is an old post, but I hope I can get a response. I used to watch 6play online up until about 3 weeks ago, and suddenly I get the “Désolé, cette vidéo n’est pas accessible dans votre pays.” message, I was getting this message before in some shows, but now I am getting it on all shows, did anything change recently, because I had been watching this online website for over 3 years without any issues. If I get the VPN, would I be able to Watch these channels, 6play or M6,? I am really missing my shows, I am in California btw, if that makes any difference.
Girl same thing i honestly do not know what to do if you find a solution please let me know. Thx
Desperate French woman living in Miami 😢
Create an account on MOLOTOV TV and use a VPN. You will access all these channels fro free
Netflix , PBS Masterpiece, Prime Video, and MhZ are American TV streaming services that offer French programs. My favorite series are “Call my Agent”/“Dix Pour-cent”, (Netflix) and “Murder in Paris”/ “ »Profilage”(PBS Masterpiece). People rave about “Un Village Français » which is on Prime Video and MhZ. L’Engrenage/ The Spiral on Netflix is also very popular.
I connected my vpn but now dont know how to start French tv for French movies in French language.
Please assist me.
Now that you have a VPN, you just need to connect to a French server and then choose one of the TV channels mentioned in the article.
Salut,Benjamin!
Je regarde France 3 presque toujour.Je dois pratiquer mon français pour un nouveau emploi avec le gouvernment du Canada avec notre recensement.
J’aime beaucoup la série <>, et je vois qu’il y a une nouvelle série dite <>!
Pour essayer de comprendre le français parlé,ça vaut la peine de l’écouter.On doit rester fidèle tout de même et n’abandonne pas de l’écouter.Il me fallait une semaine de commencer à tout entendre,mais après ce temps-là on commence à comprendre meilleure.
J’espère que cette information aidera quelques-uns de vos abonnés.
J’avais étudié français il y a plus de 50 années au lycée et à l’université,et j’ai trouvé que la pratique et parlée et écrite sont les meilleures façons d’apprendre et de pratiquer français.D’accord que je continue à faire de petites fautes et ainsi je continue à pratiquer.
Je m’étais inscrit aussi avec Tandem,mais j’avais dû la terminer car je n’ai reçu que des inquêtes de plusieurs hommes qui cherchaient une “easy touch”,bien que j’ai 71 ans!Il y avait une femme qui ne voulait que parler et je suis je suis en communication avec elle à travers Skype.
Oopsie:
Gouvernement, pas gouvernment
La série TV, pas la série
Il me fallait-J’ai eu besoin est meilleure
J’espère que ces informations, pas cette information
J’avais étudié le français il y a plus de 50 ans au lycée et à l’université et j’ai découvert que parler et écrire sont les meilleurs moyens d’apprendre et de pratiquer le français.
meilleure que <>
Je m’étais abonnée est meilleure que je m’avais inscrite
L’abonnement est masculin.
Et toutes ces corrections car je suis un peu paresseuse. Yikes!
I watch miraculous ladybug in french lol
We live at the end of a very long landline and get extremely poor bandwidth (0.87 Mbps.) Downloads take for ever and ISPs don’t even try to sell us TV channels. But we can view Arte perfectly, without interruption. Can any explain how that is possible, please?
Would I be Ok using my AVG antivirus software VPN to access the French channels, (incl TV5MONDE) please,???
Yes, it should work as long as the AVG VPN has a server in France.
Hi Benjamin,
I live in Singapore and I’ve tried to M6 TV because no need VPN. But it does not work.
Anyway thank you for all this information.
Kind regards,
Maria
sometimes even though you use a vpn some website still block you from watching, because it only accept some selected ISP like ( Orange, Sfr, Bouygues Telecom … ) regardless the ip.
Hello Ben
Thanks for such details!
My interest is to find live OR streaming programs of Opera, like from Paris or Aix du Provence (festival).
An example is today’s (July 9th) telecast of Puccini’s TOSCA from Aix.
I have found articles via google saying it is on CulturalBox (streaming) at sometime following live on FranceTV.
Is there a Guide (grid) showing the current content on some or many of the channels in your listing? for FranceTV (multiple, side by side)?
Realize will likely need a VPN so thanks for your recommendation (and disclosure)!
it seems to me that the French are NOT televising the French Open. they just show best of the day. Is there any French Chanel that plays all matches?
I speak some French and my wife is fluent. We would like to get TV5 and other channels without cable TV. First, is this possible? If so, how to we go about doing so?
Thank you, Mati & David
Try SLING TV for connections to French channels without cable
I’m so confused, I just set up a Roku thinking I’d be able to get TV5MONDE bouquet, but I have to subscribe to both Comcast Xfinity AND Sling? Aren’t they both cable services? I pay 15 to watch basic tv monde already, how much is Sling, and why did they choose the worst service to only show their programming on? Thanks, I’ll take any advice!
Hi Benjamin,
Could You please, let me know, If any tv channel for kids (nick jr, disney, nickelodeon – of course in french) is available through a purchased vpn?
Thanks a lot
Soohie
Anyone in AUS use the mycanal service???
Yes I am. Works perfectly with a subscription and a vpn
I have gotten a lot out of “7 Jours Sur La Planète” over the years, on TV5 Monde. The website says it’s airing at 10h30 on Saturdays altho’ it’s not on our cable system’s schedule at the moment. The subtitles are in French, not English, which I find helpful when listening to news ‘readers’ who race through their scripts at 1.5 times the spoken rate.
I found this helpful too but I’ve been unable to get since 07/07/2018. Do you know if TV5Monde have stopped this helpful broadcast ?
Many thanks for this recommendation (7 Jours Sur La Planète) on TV5Monde, as the French subtitles are very helpful. It looks like a whole bunch of videos are available on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/user/7jours) as well.
Thanks for the link, it’s great especially as you say, with the wonderful French subtitles. It’s the receptive side of French that I have trouble with and they seem to speak too fast for me so this is excellent for me to try to pick up what they’re saying. I could even slow the video down if I wish 😀
D’accord. c’est vraiment tres utile. J’aime TV5 Monde aussi. Mais je suis pacertain si 7 jour esy disponible.
I use VPNexpress to watch French channels and now M6 is getting smarter and it s blocking me even with the vpn on, I called and nothing could make it work.. !! do you know any other vpn that will let me watch M6?
merci
Hallo
I have the same problem.
Do you have an answer to solve this problem ????
How much is hide my ass VPN … is it a monthly charge?
There is a popular Norwegian show called Skam and recently versions in French, Italian and German came out. You can watch in online with subtitles on dailymotion or the original without subtitles on france tv slash. I highly recommend it!
Hello there
I liked your article. I am starting to learn French but finding some difficulty in pronouncing the words and as you said tv helps. Can you please recommend some dramas or series in french that are fun and easy to get
I don’t manage to watch TV5 Monde although you say that there are no restrictions. Can you help me more?
It’s working for me (without VPN). What happens when you try to watch it?
I can’t see it live (as you have to pay) but can see some shows on demand http://www.tv5monde.com/cms/chaine-francophone/Revoir-nos-emissions/p-33140-Emissions.htm
Do you know where I can watch “Spiral” o “Braquo” ?
Engranges aka Spiral, I found awesome, as well as mafiosa…..
Not really drama but cops show.
Good article, if only to provide a single resource for all the links. But I’m struggling with HMA – it is nowhere near quick enough to stream video.
I haven’t used HMA in a while so I can’t comment on the speed but you could try a few different servers if you haven’t. This usually does the trick for me when i use a VPN.
I use Ivacy VPN when I need to unlock channels in my home town
Je regarde régulièrement TV5 à Bangalore en Inde
Some shows on M6 play have worked for me in Australia without a VPN.
That’s good to know, thanks for sharing Katerina 🙂
Which ones? (I live in Australia too)
Hi,
Can I have a 30 day trial or something on VPN to try “before you buy”. I m looking for only french channel to expose my baby to the french language beside me only speaking to him.
Thanks
Sorry, I’m not aware of any VPN company offering free trials. But you can usually get your money back if you don’t like it.
Try a browser with free VPN, YouTube or Facebook live
C’est très étrange que toutes les communautés ont un accès très simple pour voire la télé de leurs pays aux États Unis …et c’est très difficile pour les communautés française d’accéder leurs canaux hors de la France …c’est très bizarre
Je suis libanais et les chaînes française sont disponible partout au Liban.
Hi there I’m a die hard fan of canal sat channels.. any good TV box you recommend to stream them all??
I’ve just purchased Hide My Ass’s one-year plan. (Initially I wanted to buy the 2-year plan at NordVPN, but every single time the purchase wasn’t successful and I got frustrated.)
Fun fact: an ass is another name for a donkey (un âne).
Cachez Mon Âne ! (donkey)
Hide My Ass is as good as NordVPN in my experience so you are not missing out 🙂
In English, the expression would be Hide my arse. The arse is your bum (gluteus) whilst an ass is a type of equine animal cross between horse and donkey. In American (USA “english”) they say ass incorrectly meaning bottom (for gluteus) and use the word “bum” to refer to a vagrant.
In the US., not sure about elsewhere, but “hide my ass” would just be a way of saying “hide me” or “hide my location” in this case. “My ass” is also generally how people refer to themselves quite often actuality, crudely though. Then again there’s an old saying in the US (showing my age here) “I’m going to hide your ass.” Or “I’m going to tan your hide” meaning “I’m going to beat your ass (beat you up)” or if your Dad ever said this to you then it would mean that you’ve been a naughty, naughty kid and he’s going to spank you, a lot.
Hide my ass. Ha! The 12 year old in me got a chuckle.
I laughed too 🙂
Kodi box makes em all available as streamed do a search its a bit dodgy but at the moment its legal in the UK
https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/science-technology/797734/Kodi-Ban-European-Court-Ban
I know that this is an old post, but, do you know of a way that I can buy Canal+/ Canal+ sport and watch in the US(with a VPN of course)
If you know someone in France that can get you an account, you can use mycanal. There is a website and an app.
where can i buy accounts
For a VPN? Here:
https://frenchtogether.com/go/vpn
Disclosure: This is an affiliate link. Learn More
Thanks for sharing. What French channels can you watch with it?
i don’t remember all, but france 24, some movies channels, music channels, discovery, national geographic
Where I live we have a channel package called DSTV and on it there’s TV5 monde . There I like watching ‘Tactik’. I also liked ‘Teenager’ , but that ended. This new show, ‘Bambino’ looks promising. Also if I’m at home, I sometimes watch ‘Tout le monde veut prendre sa place’
I also watch Star Parade for the French music aspect.
Thanks for sharing Jacques 🙂
Hello,
My wife and I, reside in the US, and would like to watch French TV to practice our French listening skills.
The technology involved (VPN etc) is not a problem. What we wanted to know is it appears most of the online streaming services (e.g. myft1, tv5monde etc) require an account login to be setup, which most likely also wants a French email address.
Or do the streaming clients bypass the login requirements and just present the menu selection ?
Thanks for any guidance on setting up login accounts for the online streaming TV services.
Bonjour Bill
Last time I tried, these services didn’t require a French email address, so you should be able to use it without any problem as long as you’re using a French VPN server.
Is closed-captioning available on FilmOn? I’ve not been able to figure that out…
I’m french, and if you wan to know the best channels : Tf1, France 2, France 3, M6, arte (for documentary), w8, w9, nrj12(telereality *arghhhh*..), 14 and guli (for kids) …
Thanks you !
If you are stuck for using a VPN , try Zenmate on Mozilla. I live in the UK and my provider, Virgin, has blocked numerous sites for watching tv, but using Zenmate, you bypass this, also if you upgrade you can change the country, so because my Wife is French, i subscribe to the premium monthly amount and change my VPN to France. Happy Days
Thanks for the recommendation Jeff. I edited your comment to delete the mention of a specific streaming website though as I’m not sure it’s entirely legal.
Where to watch Kids program in French? Which channel would
you recommend?
Bonjour Tom. You can watch Gulli online.
Unfortunately Netflix no longer supports streaming while using a VPN. So it’s not longer possible to what my favorite American shows in French; and the French content on Netflix is extremely limited.
That’s truly a shame. I hope the movie industry will one day understand that geographical restrictions will only do one thing: convince people to use illegal streaming websites.
Look at FilmonTV. (www.filmon.com) They broadcast 10 FranceTV stations in low definition for free. On a computer, they look great. News stations broadcast high definition (well, 480p) for free. For a nominal fee, you can get HD.
I tried HMA, and it slowed down my internet connection from 80 Mbps to .8 Mbps … is there a special way it has to be setup so it doesn’t slow it down so bad that video isn’t impossible? Right now it takes half a minute to load google!
It’s definitely not supposed to do that. Did you try different locations? In my experience, this could also be due to a conflict with your antivirus. But the best way to solve that would be to contact HMA directly.
I contacted them directly. They gave me a different version which allowed me to choose more server locations. I found some that weren’t as slow but watching video is still hard. Only difference is my 80Mbps connection only gets decreased to about 2 or 3 Mbps … They told me that is to be expected …
thank you, danke schoen & merci! My children are learning French and I’m trying to refresh…
De rien 🙂
Sorry for the typo. It should have said Boston area.
Hi Benjamin,
I miss having TV5 Monde (we had cable in the Bistib area before we moved to another state). We are trying to use other options besides cable now. Do you know if there is a way to watch it with Hulu or Netflix or some other option?
Hi Molly
You can watch TV5 Monde on their website 🙂
https://www.tv5mondeplus.com/
Hi Benjamin, thank you for the link. It seems to only have some shows. Can you watch everything on the channel including the movies? When I did a search for Télématin, it get a page with this message: Vidéo non disponible dans votre région du monde. If I get. VPN, will that solve the problem?
They don’t seem to have movies. Only documentaries and shows.
But having a VPN would definitely solve your problem. They don’t let you watch this show, because you are not in France. If you find a VPN with a server in France, you can watch it. Hide My Ass is pretty cool for that.
I live in the US and have a Netflix account. I am disappointed by how little French audio content they have, but it does exist. So I signed up for a proxy service so I could try out TV5 Monde. Before creating a TV5 account, I decided to check out Netflix. I’m glad I did. There are of course more French movies to choose from; and a number of US shows dubbed in French with French subtitles. These same US shows don’t offer French audio if accessing Netflix from the US.
My biggest complaint is that the audio and subtitles appears to be translated independent of each other. So when watching the Big Bang Theory in French w/French subtitles you’ll hear and read two different ways Sheldon tells Penny “That’s my spot”.
Yeah Netflix’s content changes a lot depending on the country you are in. That’s why i also use a VPN all the time.
The subtitle problem is probably due to the fact that French sentences seem to be quite long, so it may not be possible to include whole sentences in the subtitles. I believe Yabla has content whose subtitles match the audio. And I also plan to include subtitles that are identical to the audio when I publish videos on French Together.
Thank you for the information Benjamin. I am Indonesian and currently studying in Toulouse. Though I already learn French for more than 2 years, it is still difficult for me to master this language. Need to be more patient. The difficult is that sometimes French does not always have patient to respond to someone with different accent, just like me:) ahahaa,,,Thanks anyway
Derien :).
You could find a French tandem partner, that would help you a lot to practice, because he/she would be learning Indonesian and teaching your French :).
https://frenchtogether.com/french-conversation-practice/
Thanks Benjamin 🙂 – Irene
Thanks for the information in this article. The thing is, I don’t understand French people when they talk. They talk too quickly. I only catch a few separate words from every sentence.
So my question is, isn’t there a way I can watch french TV (French movies for example) with subtitles?
Hi Nadeen
I don’t know any way to do that, but you can use a website like Fluentu to watch French videos with subtitles. Or something like Hollywood speaks French.
https://ohlalaispeakfrench.com/hollywood-speaks-french/
https://frenchtogether.com/fluentu//
Ok thanks a lot. That was very helpful.
I was watching a TV5 Quebec videos from Australia without a VPN so it must be possible for at least some shows. Not a whole channel but I know Netflix US has all the seasons of Engrenages and Hulu has Braqo.
Ah that’s good :). It seems like all isn’t restricted.
Thanks for sharing :).
I watch TV5Monde. It is available from my cable company (and most dish servers, I think). It has an online website (just Google “Tv5” or “TV5monde” or “TV5 France,” etc. But I am very grateful for the information in this e-mail!
I hope this is helpful. TV5 doesn’t always have on what I want to watch.
Thanks for sharing Nita :).
I didn’t know TV5 also existed in France. I will update the article with this information.
I would like to stick to resources that don’t involve cable television, as I have gotten rid of it, keeping only my broadband access. Even if I did subscribe to cable television, I can’t watch it anywhere but home, which is limiting; NYC’s cable providers charge extra for French and other international channels.
So please keep sharing online resources we can enjoy anywhere!
I will, and I will even add more resources as I find new ones :).
It does mean “hat”, but it’s also a way to say “well-done”. It comes from the fact that people used to take off their hat to show respect.