Geo-blocking
Geo-blocking is the practice of allowing or denying access to video based on the viewer's geographic location, usually worked out from their IP address. A sports match might be available in one country but blocked in another. It is mainly used to honor content licensing deals and local regulations.
Why it matters
Content licenses are often sold country by country, so streaming outside licensed regions can breach contracts. Geo-blocking helps businesses honor those deals and local laws. It is imperfect, since VPNs can hide a viewer's location, so rights holders often ask what else is in place.
How it works
- The service receives a request and reads the viewer's IP address.
- It looks up the IP in a geolocation database to find the likely country.
- It compares that country with the allowed or blocked list for the video.
- It either serves the stream or returns an error or message instead.
Is geo-blocking legal?
Yes, geo-blocking is generally legal and is widely used to honor licensing deals. Some regions limit it for certain services. The European Union's geo-blocking regulation, for example, restricts unjustified geo-blocking in online shopping but excludes audiovisual services, so streaming platforms can still restrict content by country within the EU.
Can geo-blocking be bypassed with a VPN?
Yes, viewers can often bypass geo-blocking with a VPN, which makes their traffic appear to come from another country. Services respond by blocking known VPN and proxy IP addresses, but this is an ongoing effort. Geo-blocking is usually combined with account checks and other access controls for stronger protection.
Where it's used
Live sports streamers and OTT services use geo-blocking to limit viewing to countries where they hold rights, while some news publishers use it to meet local laws.
Where it usually goes wrong, and how FastPix handles it
Teams sometimes rely on location rules alone, but IP-based checks are easy to get around and do not limit who can watch inside allowed regions.
FastPix does not currently offer geo-blocking or IP restriction. Access control is done with signed playback tokens: playback IDs signed with a JWT through signing keys. That keeps paid video limited to entitled viewers, while country-level rights still need a separate control.
By the numbers
- The EU geo-blocking regulation, Regulation (EU) 2018/302, has applied since 3 December 2018 and excludes audiovisual services from its scope. (Regulation (EU) 2018/302 on unjustified geo-blocking)
