2021 saw us all spending much more time binging fiction crime of all shades for fairly obvious reasons. 2022 pledges us a little more fresh air, but honestly – vegetating at home comes with its benefits. Finest among them is the opportunity to explore the realm of misremembered Nordic noir with all that Netflix, and other streaming services have to offer.
The Bridge is one of a triad in this Nordic shows ‘revival – the others like Borgen and The Valhalla Murders – have swept the entertainment world and piqued our affinity for Nordic noir, which doesn’t seem to end.
Table of Contents
What is Nordic Noir, and Why is It So Popular?
Scandinavian noir, also known as Nordic noir, is a genre of crime fiction and television drama that is operatic in its form and manner. Scandi noir is usually written from a police point of view and set in Nordic countries and Scandinavia. It has melancholic, even fatalistic storylines and breaks urban settings. Everything happens at a brooding pace with haunting, wintry cold landscapes and minimalist music. And, obviously, there is overwhelming darkness.
Scandi noirs are nothing more but criticism of the society where the series are written on. The writing style is without metaphor, as well as the directing plan without metaphor. Not only the main characters are not flaws-free but also their own monsters and issues that they are battling.
The bad news is that if you are traveling outside Norway for any reason, such as because you’re on a business trip or a vacation, you won’t be able to stream your favorite Norwegian crime TV.
Norwegian TV programs are restricting access to anyone who can stream their content, blocking those without a Norwegian IP from accessing their content.
Fortunately, you can stream services like DAZN, Netflix, and PPC iPlayer outside Norway with a VPN. A Virtual Private Network will assign you a new, temporary IP address in Norway, unlocking the floodgates and allowing you to stream all the Scandi crime you can handle. Read more at vpnportalen and see how that works.
Why Do Norwegian Streaming Services Ban International Viewers?
“Ikke tilgjengelig utenfor Norge”.
Try to binge your favorite Scandi Noir online, outside Norway, and chances are you’ll come across “Not available outside Norway.”
Subscriptions to Nordic Tv services don’t mean anything if you’re outside the state’s borders. Your monthly subscription is pointless if you don’t have an IP address yelling that you’re in Norway. It’s a matter of contracts where streaming services sign with movie producers and TV in order to keep the content they sell inside national borders.
The reason? TV and movie producers must earn their bread, too – it’s all about content licensing agreements. They gain a lot from reselling the content in every region instead of every region’s audience gaining access to the content they want in Norway.
The restrictive government also plans for the content to be accessed where their border begins. That way, it is easier to control what their residents can watch, and so by restricting access, streaming services can navigate without problems with those governments.
Norwegian TV is restricted to anyone who tries to access the content abroad – that is unless you use a VPN. A Virtual Private Network has the ability to hide your true IP and make the internet think you’re watching Borderliner in Norway. That way, you can gain access to all the Nordic noir it offers.
How Do Geo-Blocks Work?
Tv streaming platforms are able to block content according to your IP address. An IP address is what identifies your device on the internet. It notifies other devices on the internet of your location and where a response needs to go. The same goes with a home address: By tagging mail with your address, delivery services know where an order came from and where it needs to go.
There’s another disadvantage that IP addresses and home addresses hold: Both can reveal your physical location.
Once the network or the streaming service notices your IP address location, they can restrict your access to their content, leaving you without your Nordic faves.
How to stream NRK and other streaming services outside Norway
Although streaming services do their best to block international viewers’ access, a VPN service remains a viable solution if you want to bypass their virtual restrictions. All you need is to install one.
VPNs serve as an entrance to international content. Once you have connected a VPN service’ server in Norway, your device will receive a new IP address, regardless of where you might be located. You could literally binge the hell out of Borderliner, but for all the online world knows, you’re in Norway.
Norwegian Content at Your Fingertips
Unblocking geo-restrictions is definitely one of the most famous reasons to use a VPN, but it’s certainly not the only reason.
For instance, a virtual private network is able to unblock other kinds of international content, such as gaming servers, music streaming, banks, and other services ad platforms that international borders may restrict.
One thing VPNs are extremely notorious for is that they add a layer of protection to your internet connection, which keeps praying eyes far from your online needs. Malicious intruders, ISPs (Internet Service Providers), and governments will be unable to monitor your internet travels.
If you need to access your favorite Nordic series through an airport’s public WIFI hotspot, you can do it safely with a virtual private connection. We know WIFI hotspots are famously insecure, leaving travelers vulnerable to the invasions of cybercriminals, but a VPN’s encryption will surely keep them at bay.
We recommend looking for VPN providers that secure your internet connection with 256-bit AES encryption. By doing so, you will ensure full security, and prying eyes will be powerless to see to your internet activity. As far as they’re concerned, all you need to access your favorite Nordic crime content, and yet safely, is a Norwegian IP address, which you can easily get using a VPN.
Tom Fogden is a writer for Itseriestech with a range of experience in the world of tech publishing. Tom covers everything from cybersecurity, to social media and website builders when he’s not reviewing the latest phones, gadgets, or occasionally even technology books.