To watch CBC Gem outside Canada, start a free 7-day StreamLocator trial, set it up on your watching device or home wi-fi router, then sign in to CBC Gem as if you were in Canada. For Canadians abroad or anyone outside Canada trying to access CBC’s streaming service, that solves the block that otherwise shows up outside the country.
CBC Gem is free. The whole on-demand catalogue, the live CBC channels and the province-specific feeds cost nothing beyond a free account, and Gem Premium removes the ads for C$5.99 a month if you want it. That matters because Gem carries Canadian shows, live channels and other programming that is hard to get internationally, but it only streams inside Canada, so from anywhere else you get an error instead of a programme.
This guide covers what CBC Gem carries, how to create an account from outside Canada, what Gem costs, why it is geo-restricted, and how to set it up with StreamLocator so it plays wherever you are.
There is no location to pick. CBC Gem streams from Canada and nowhere else, so StreamLocator routes it there for you.
Nothing, for almost everyone. CBC Gem offers both free and Premium options: the free tier carries ads and gives you the full catalogue of on-demand episodes, and it needs only an email address and a password to set up.
Gem Premium costs C$5.99 a month and gives you ad-free streaming in 1080p, with the first seven days free for new users. There is no annual plan, so it is month to month only, and it is billed to a Visa, Mastercard, Visa Debit or Debit Mastercard, or through Roku, Amazon, Google or Apple if you subscribe inside one of those apps.
Live TV. The CBC channels as they broadcast, including the province-specific news feeds, which is the part expatriate Canadians usually come for.
Canadian drama, comedy, documentaries and movies. CBC's own catalogue, most of which is not licensed anywhere else and simply does not appear on international services, though some shows or films may still turn up on other platforms outside Canada.
Sport. Sports coverage includes the Olympics along with the events it carries through the year as part of wider CBC content.
News. CBC News live and on demand, nationally and by province, is also a core part of the platform for people streaming Canadian TV.
CBC Gem is only accessible within Canada because of licensing agreements, so Gem checks the location of the connection before it plays anything, and some CBC shows are licensed to other platforms outside Canada. Step outside the country and you get an error rather than a stream, even on the free tier where nobody is paying anything.
StreamLocator gives CBC Gem a Canadian connection to look at, which is all it needs to serve you the same catalogue it serves at home, but CBC may block VPN IP addresses and many services struggle with those restrictions, so not every VPN works reliably. StreamLocator is not your traditional-VPN and its only focus is streaming so it easily gets around common issues VPNs suffer from.
This routes your internet traffic through Canada so you can watch content that normally only works there.
Setting it up on your home wi-fi router is worth the extra five minutes if more than one person in the house watches, because it covers every device at once, including the ones that cannot run an app.
Straightforward, and this is the rare page where the sign-up is not the hard part. Make sure StreamLocator is running, then create the account with an email address and a password. No Canadian card, no postcode, no phone number.
If you want Gem Premium, that step does need a Canadian card or an app-store payment method, but the free tier is what most people actually want and it asks for neither.
The only real decision on this page is whether the ads bother you enough to pay C$5.99 a month.
If you want more Canadian television from abroad, we also have guides to Fubo in Canada and Sportsnet Now.
CBC Gem is one of the few genuinely good free streaming services, and for Canadians abroad it is the only place the news feeds and the home-grown drama exist. Being outside the country should not cost you something that is free to everyone inside it.
Start your free 7-day trial, set StreamLocator up once, and sign in to CBC Gem.
Yes. CBC Gem only streams inside Canada, so on its own it will not work abroad. With StreamLocator running, CBC Gem sees a Canadian connection and everything plays as it does at home. There is no location to choose, because Canada is the only country CBC Gem streams from.
Yes. The catalogue, the live CBC channels and the province-specific feeds all cost nothing beyond a free CBC account. Gem Premium removes the ads and adds a few extras for C$5.99 a month, but it is optional and there is no annual plan.
Not for the free tier, which needs only an email address and a password. Gem Premium is billed to a Visa, Mastercard, Visa Debit or Debit Mastercard, or through Roku, Amazon, Google or Apple if you subscribe inside one of those apps.
No, and for the free tier there is nothing to include. You pay StreamLocator for the access that reaches CBC Gem from where you live. The same StreamLocator subscription works with other streaming services too.
CBC's live channels, its full on-demand catalogue of Canadian drama, comedy and documentary, the province-specific news feeds, and CBC's Olympic coverage. It is the only place most of that programming exists.
CBC Gem runs in a browser and in its apps for iOS and Android phones and tablets, plus other supported devices. You can also watch through the CBC website on a PC or Mac browser, while StreamLocator works with Windows devices and supports Apple TV, Android TV, Fire TV, and select Smart TV models. On anything else, including Roku and games consoles, you copy two short lines of numbers from your StreamLocator account into the device's network settings, or into your router. Setting it on the router covers every device in the house at once.
StreamLocator DNS unlocks geo‑restricted shows, movies, and live sports from anywhere in the world.
There’s nothing to install — just a quick setup on your device or router.
It's the easy option - set it up on any internet-connected device, and it runs seamlessly in the background. No country switching required.
Sign up today and start watching global content like a local!
If you’re not sure whether StreamLocator is for you, why not take it for a test drive? Try it out for 7 days free.
If you have any questions, contact one of our experts today.We’ll be happy to provide all the information you need.
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