There was once a time where we praised HBO and the team at Last Week Tonight for throwing the majority of the show up on YouTube just hours after it had been broadcast in the US. A few weeks ago, however, that slowly began to change for Aussie viewers, and now John Oliver’s show has practically disappeared behind an obnoxious geoblock.
It all started a few weeks ago, when a segment on NCAA College Basketball went behind the geoblock for Aussies. The video was posted online, but could only be viewed in the US. It had been assumed the block was due to licensing issues between US and Australian screens.
But it kept happening.
The next week, the exclusive Edward Snowden interview went behind a geoblock, as did all new clips from recent shows, and it’s still happening.
Aussies can get a glimpse of what they are missing on Last Week Tonight‘s YouTube profile page, but clicking the All Videos tab caused clips from the last few weeks to disappear due to the geoblock restrictions for Australians.
The initial NCAA clip as well as the Snowden clip have now been released from the geoblock, making us think that it’s part of a timed exclusive for rebroadcasters around the world. We’ve reached out to HBO to confirm.
So now the only way to watch Last Week Tonight as it airs is every Monday night on…you guessed it…Foxtel.
I’m sad we ever gave John Oliver one of our internet hugs to begin with.