Want to watch Via Free in the US to access some of the best Swedish TV shows and movies? It’s possible, and we will go over it in this guide, but there is a few steps involved because Via Free is not currently available in the US.
...Instead, when you try to watch something, you get a “The program is blocked from appearing from this geographic location” kind of message.
...But before we get into how to unblock it, let’s talk about why you need to unblock it in the first place.
Via Free is a Swedish platform, and you are here because you probably want to watch some of your favorite Swedish shows and movies, and naturally, most of them are not known in the US, therefore no one probably has the rights to show them there, thus there is nothing to prevent Via Free from showing them. Right?
...Well, while it’s true that Via Free has a lot of Swedish shows, it also has a lot of US ones.
Like a lot of them.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Alaska State Troopers. Chicago Med. NCIS: New Orleans. RuPaul’s Drag Race.
The list is much longer, and also applies to a lot of UK content that other companies have rights to show in the US.
And that’s ultimately the reason for why Via Free is not available in the US.
It’s because a vast majority of content on it is not Swedish, and Via Free doesn’t have the rights to show it in the US.
...And since Sweden is Via Free’s natural target audience, the platform will never acquire the rights to show the American shows and movies it shows, in the US.
How do we solve that problem?
Unlike with many other platforms, the signup process for Via Free is quite simple.
There are no weird steps required for creating an account. All you need to provide is your name, password of choice, email, and zip code, with the zip code part having to be Swedish.
...But before you do all of that, you need to make Via Free think that you are in Sweden.
That will require using a VPN.
If you never heard of VPN services, they allow you to switch your location virtually, to be somewhere else in the world, and are often used to unblock American content not available outside of the US.
...If you ever tried to use one, you might also know that they don’t often work with entertainment services.
That’s because streaming services have to make efforts against VPN services so that they don’t get in trouble for showing content they can’t show in certain regions.
And that’s where PrivateVPN comes in as a Swedish service (you are on an English blog) with support for all major Swedish services, including Via Free.
Is that it?
If you are on a laptop or will be watching from the web browser, then yes. But if you also want to have the Via Free app, or to watch on a TV, there are a few more steps involved, because the Via Free app is not available in the US meanwhile most smart TVs and TV platforms don’t support VPN services.
Like already mentioned, most smart TVs and smart platforms like Apple TV, Chromecast, and Roku do not support VPN services, making it hard to watch Via Free on a TV.
There are nevertheless solutions for that problem.
The easiest one? It’s to connect a laptop to a TV via an HDMI cable.
The best one? To get an Amazon Fire TV Stick.
If you just got one, select for your region to be in Sweden.
If you already have one:
Whether looking to unblock Via Free, Via Play, SVT Play, PrivateVPN supports them, and many other streaming services that are not available in the US.
Written by Michael Smolski.
Disclaimer: While PrivateVPN supports platforms like Via Free, due to the nature of streaming platforms having to take measures against VPN services, PrivateVPN is not able to guarantee non-stop protection, at all given times. No service can.