So how come someone would need to use French proxy to access a web site? Well I’ll tell you, all across the internet there are web sites tailoring their content to specific countries. This is a concept called geotargeting, which in effect checks what country you’re connecting from then customizes what you see depending on your location.

It sounds quite beneficial, this geotargeting and in some instances it actually is, for instance when you visit Google you’ll be automatically directed to the local version of Google which will deliver you localised results. However this technology can also be used to block access to the content on a website.

For instance, one of the most famous sites on the web, the BBC Iplayer is restricted if you try to access from a Non-UK location, the big American media sites do the same restricting access to people outside the US for Hulu, NBC and ABC for instance. In fact just about every large media site restricts access to content usually to those who reside in the same country.

For French TV – do you need a French Proxy ?

You certainly do at least for the biggest sites, take for example the French Media site M6 Replay, the vast majority of their content will be blocked unless you connect from France, and have a French IP address. This is the awkward part, finding proxies fast enough to stream video is hard enough but even harder when you have to find one in a specific country.

So Is it Possible to Find a Free French proxy?

It is in theory, in practice it is an extremely time consuming task which you have to repeat everytime you want to access a site. The difficulty is that most of the free proxy servers are just misconfigured or servers which have been hacked, they will only be accessible for a few hours until you have to find a new one. You can use programs like foxy proxy to find them, but it will be an ongoing task especially if you need a French proxy.

Any Other Routes to a Proxy in France ?

You can configure a free program called TOR to route through French clients, which works ok as long as you don’t want to stream video as the clients are much too slow to produce a watchable stream.

The only other option is to pay one of the companies which provide private French proxies. To be honest if you want to watch French TV regularly or access any of these sites, it’s the only real option. There are many companies who offer this service for UK and US sites but one or two that have French Proxy servers as well.

Have a look around there are a few providers, you need the connection either via a proxy or a VPN (Virtual private Network) and make sure they have a French server. Some of the online companies make you pay for access to each specific server, however there are a few companies who allow use of their entire range of servers including french ones for your single subscription – the benefit is you’ll be able to select which server you’ll need for each site.