What TV programs, channels or Films can you watch in St Barts?

The only channels that are legally available in St Barts are the French TV Channels. 

You can of course listen to your favourite music with phone apps like Spotify and Deezer.

No shops now rent DVDs and very few villas still have the DVD players. You can purchase small DVD players that plug in to your laptop (USB), bring a few DVDs and cast to the TV using Chromecast. Google “portable dvd players” but test them before flying!! Or better than that, load some films onto a USB key or even an SD card with the necessary connections.

Dish Network is available in St Barts but it costs the villa owners about 2500€ per year for the annual contract. Not all villas have that.  The access to Dish Network from the USA is done by using a kind of VPN but none of the suppliers here will tell you how it's done. I believe Dish Network has an app that allows you to watch certain channels in places other than your home but this does not allow it to come to St Barts, France , or the UK!!!! Home Area restricted.

What if you have a Netflix account? Netflix knows that you are not in the USA and will not allow certain films if  they do not have a certain country license. 


You may see Netflix etc. as a channel on the lounge TV and you can login and use your own contract but Netflix will know very quickly that you are not in the USA etc. and your viewing will be interrupted. The same with many of your home channels that you subscribe to. Home Area restricted etc.

If your villa has Orange, Dauphin, or any other local network provider, each should have their own TV channels. Nearly all are in French. Some are shown that but are only available if their licenses allow it. Home Area restricted etc.

Network providers will only show their own Channels. But are Home Area restricted etc.

Basically you have to be subscribed to the channel/TV supplier you want to watch.  There are certain TV Boxes that will show sports, film, or other channels but you have to be already subscribed to them AND not outside the home area AND are only allowed to be broadcast where their content is licensed. 


Network providers can put up some of these channels if the TV has a Box attached.  (Check our TV) Even then there are always some that are only allowed to be broadcast where their content is licensed. Home Area restricted etc.

So what can you do:

Youtube is a good source; that you should try.  The problem with Youtube and Youtube Premium is that it also has Home Area limited channels due to the licensing they have with their suppliers, which varies. 

You can “Cast” any Youtube channel, aka stream, from your device to a TV if that TV has Chromecast built in, which is more and more common.  We have Chromecast. 

As an example, I can watch some News channels in St Barts but in France I can't watch CNN or the BBC. Home Area restricted etc.

The use of VPNs can help get to Home Area restricted channels but depending on the content, it can be disrupted. VPNs work by encrypting your internet traffic and masking your IP address. You need one setup ON YOUR COMPUTER or SMARTPHONE that you can use anywhere in the world. Unfortunately we can't do that as they have to be used in conjunction with a computer and the VPNs can be found and the feed shut off.  I doubt if many villas have VPNs set up.

One of the other tricks to stop illegal watching is where the network box has to be physically plugged into a telephone line. UK Sky and Sky Sports do that.
Best to spend your holiday in St Barts visiting the fabulous beaches and superb restaurants, or just lazing in the pool or spa with fabulous views, whilst sipping your mojito!!!