With such an exciting series of events ahead, the only real question is “how can I watch the World Championships?” – here, we discuss the different ways to watch the World Athletics Championships from inside and outside of the UK. You might also like: How to watch BBC iPlayer abroad
How to watch World Athletics Championships on TV
As the event will be covered by the BBC, live coverage will be available on BBC One and BBC Two throughout the event. You’ll be able to tune in on Freeview, Sky, BT or Virgin Media from the comfort of your own home – as long as you have a TV license.
How to watch World Athletics Championships online
The BBC will be covering the entire event across BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Radio 5 Live for those of us in the UK. As it’s covered by the BBC, it’ll be fairly easy to follow the World Athletics Championships online via BBC’s own iPlayer and third-party streaming services – both of which we discuss in more detail below. Before we go any further, it’s worth noting that you have to have a TV License in order to watch live TV in the UK, regardless of whether it’s on a physical TV or streamed on a media device. Also, we’d advise those of you that want to follow the live coverage on your smartphone to do so on Wi-Fi as it’ll eat a large chunk of your monthly data allowance if streamed over a cellular connection.
BBC iPlayer
The app, along with providing a catalogue of TV shows to watch, offers livestreams of each BBC channel. So, download BBC iPlayer on the device of your choice, take a look at the World Athletics Championships schedule below and enjoy the World Athletics Championships!
TVPlayer
For those that don’t want to use BBC iPlayer, we suggest using TVPlayer. TVPlayer offers live streams of around 75 of the most popular free-to-air TV channels in the UK (users can pay £5.99 a month to gain access to 30 additional channels) including BBC One and BBC Two. If you need to watch online with a computer, find out how to connect a laptop to your TV.
How to watch World Athletics Championships outside the UK
But what about if you’re on holiday abroad while the World Athletics Championships are going on, and want to follow the UK coverage? While it’ll be more difficult to obtain a BBC livestream from outside the UK, it’s not impossible. The easiest way to access BBC iPlayer or TVPlayer from outside the UK is to use a VPN. Using a VPN essentially tricks websites into thinking you’re somewhere that you’re not – in this case, you’ll want to select a UK-based VPN. You should then be able to access both iPlayer and TVPlayer from abroad. If you’re new to the world of VPNs and aren’t sure which is the best to use, take a look at our list of the best VPNs and best free VPNs. For those wanting to watch from abroad using an Android device, you’ll want to take a look at our list of the best VPNs for Android. We should stress that this should only be used by UK TV License holders abroad on holiday, and should not be used by those wanting to watch the championships from outside the UK.
World Athletics Championships schedule
Here’s the full World Athletics Championships schedule across BBC One and BBC Two from 4-13 August 2017. You can find a more detailed breakdown of events on the BBC Sport website.
Friday, 4 August
18:00-19:00, BBC Two – Opening Ceremony19:00-22:00, BBC One – Day one22:00-22:30, BBC Two – Day one review
Saturday, 5 August
09:30-14:00, BBC Two – Day two18:30-22:00, BBC One – Day two22:00-22:30, BBC Two – Day two review
Sunday, 6 August
09:30-17:00, BBC Two – Day three18:30-21:00, BBC One – Day three21:00-22:30, BBC Two – Day three
Monday, 7 August
18:00-20:30, BBC Two – Day four20:30-22:00, BBC One – Day four22:00-22:30, BBC Two – Day four review
Tuesday, 8 August
18:30-22:00, BBC Two – Day five22:00-22:30, BBC Two – Day five review
Wednesday, 9 August
18:30-22:00, BBC Two – Day six22:00-22:30, BBC Two – Day six review
Thursday, 10 August
18:00-20:00, BBC Two – Day seven20:00-22:00, BBC One – Day seven22:00-22:30, BBC Two – Day seven review
Friday, 11 August
09:30-13:30, BBC Two – Day eight18:30-20:30, BBC Two – Day eight20:30-22:00, BBC One – Day eight22:00-22:30, BBC Two – Day eight review
Saturday, 12 August
09:30-12:00, BBC One – Day nine12:00-12:30, BBC Two – Day nine18:30-22:10, BBC One – Day nine
Sunday, 13 August
13:00-16:30, BBC Two – Day 1018:30-20:00, BBC Two – Day 1020:00-22:00, BBC One – Day 10
Lewis Painter is a Senior Staff Writer at Tech Advisor. Our resident Apple expert, Lewis covers everything from iPhone to AirPods, plus a range of smartphones, tablets, laptops and gaming hardware. You’ll also find him on the Tech Advisor YouTube channel.
