ITV airs top-class reality shows, some of the world's most famous soap operas, and many high-quality drama programs. But this summer, people around the world wondered how they could watch ITV live from their own countries. This is because this summer ITV was the place to watch the Euros.

Unlike the BBC, ITV is supported by advertising and is home to the hit reality series Love Island, TOWIE, and the world's longest-running soap, Coronation Street. It also offers comprehensive regional and local news and sports programming such as the Tour de France, which can be accessed both catch-up and live from the ITV Hub website.

However, while it is very easy to watch ITV live in the UK, if you are outside the country you may run into problems, even if you live in the UK and pay for a TV license. So here is exactly how to watch ITV live anywhere in the world.

If you are in the UK, watching ITV live couldn't be easier.

If you have a TV, PC, mobile device, or streaming device, you can access all of ITV's live broadcasts. On a TV, all you need to do is switch to the appropriate channel; on a PC, you can access the ITV Hub to watch live TV. The same can be done on mobile devices, but the app is optimized for touch screens.

However, while ITV is ad-supported and technically has no subscription price, those who use the service to watch live TV are obligated to pay the UK TV license fee.

The situation is slightly different if you are outside the UK.

Those outside the UK will find that not all of ITV's streaming content is available. This is thanks to the distribution rights and the aforementioned TV license fee. However, if you are out of the country, there are nifty ways around this.

Sign up with the best VPN and you can change your location to the UK and trick the ITV website into thinking you are in the UK. Our top UK VPN is ExpressVPN thanks to its powerful app, excellent unblocking power, and comprehensive 30-day money back guarantee.

So, for example, if you're visiting family or in Europe on business, you won't be able to watch live ITV, despite having paid for a TV license. With ExpressVPN, however, you can select a server in the UK and relocate virtually.

Your TV does not require you to sign up or enter any information. However, if you have never used ITV Hub before, you will need to create a free account to watch on your PC or mobile.

All you need is your date of birth, email address, and UK zip code (if for some reason you don't want to submit your own zip code, you can easily find a random one).

Before you see anything online, you will be asked to confirm your e-mail address.

From there, simply click "Watch Live" to watch ITV live, or choose what you want to stream on demand.

If you are outside the UK, you cannot sign up for ITV or watch anything from ITV without a VPN.

If you want access, simply sign up for a service like ExpressVPN, change your location to the UK, and head to the ITV website as usual. Enter your date of birth, email, and zip code, sign up as above, and you can watch.

No payment is required to watch ITV, so anyone can sign up and sign in from anywhere by using a VPN to disguise their location.

If you are a Roku user, ITV Hub is very easy to set up: just download the ITV Hub channel, sign in with your free account, and watch.

However, if you want to watch ITV using a VPN on your Roku outside the UK, you will need to install a router VPN. This is because the Roku device itself does not support VPN. It's a little more complicated than a desktop or smartphone, but our top choices Surfshark and ExpressVPN make it super easy with simple setup and clear tutorials.

If you fancy a more permanent solution, you can also set up a virtual router - all you need to do is follow our guide on how to set up a virtual router.

ITV Hub is available on the Amazon Appstore, all you need to do is download the app and sign in with the relevant credentials.

Additionally, since the Fire Stick is Android-based, it also supports VPNs. If you want to watch ITV on your Fire Stick outside of the UK, check out our guide to the best Fire Stick VPN services available.

The first and most important reason to use a VPN with ITV is that you can access free content, including a large amount of Euro 2020 matches, anywhere in the world. So no matter where you are in Canada, the US, or anywhere else, you can connect to the UK servers and log into ITV as if you were in your living room.

And that's not all. If you have a good Internet connection but ITV is buffering or playing in low quality, you may be experiencing network throttling.

This happens when the ISP detects the high bandwidth usage of your connection and intentionally slows down the speed to ensure that everyone gets similar speeds. High bandwidth usage includes torrenting, gaming, and of course streaming HD content.

VPNs anonymize the intended use of your connection, so the provider does not know that you are streaming. As a result, the provider cannot slow down your connection. [Besides, VPNs offer unparalleled privacy and security for any browsing, so if you not only want to watch ITV live abroad, but also keep your personal information safe, a secure VPN is the perfect solution.