While Grammys winners are chosen by the members of an elite organization, and the American Music Awards are voted on by fans, the Billboard Music Awards are unique in that they are chosen by a rather mathematical process factoring in physical and digital sales, streaming numbers, touring returns, and radio airplay. Yes, the Billboard Awards honor the top sellers and big hitmakers, without any sort of pretension towards acknowledging artistic merit in its selections (other than a handful of special awards handed out every year).

That’s okay, though. Save the elitism for the internet, the Billboard Awards are about seeing big stars and watching dazzling performances, and in those categories, it doesn’t disappoint. 

Unfortunately, for music fanatics outside the U.S., it can be nigh impossible to catch the event live, since while it is broadcast on NBC and streamed live on Hulu Live TV in the United States, it is pretty much unavailable elsewhere. Happily, there is a way around these restrictions and it involves signing up for a VPN.

As with many live television and sporting events, the Billboard Music Awards are broadcast solely in the US, due to regional restrictions. However, popular music lovers aren’t totally out of luck. Your best option is subscribe to a VPN service that will allow you to bypass annoying geo-restrictions.

A VPN subscription grants you the ability to route your internet connection through servers located in countries all around the world, while giving you an IP address local to that country. Therefore, you appear to websites and streaming services as if you are actually in that country, rendering geoblocking null. The icing on the cake is that a VPN will protect you from hackers and shield your web browsing activity from prying eyes via data encryption.

In most markets around the US, the streaming service Hulu Live TV carries a live stream of the NBC network. With your handy new VPN, all you need to do is log on through a U.S. server. register an account, and you can watch, as well. Granted, Hulu Live TV is not cheap, at $39.99 a month, but if all you hope to do is watch the Billboard Music Awards, you just have to register an account within a week of the broadcast and cancel shortly after. Easy, right?

  1. Subscribe to a VPN provider with U.S. servers (some great ones in the list below)
  2. Download and install the VPN client on your preferred device
  3. Connect to a server in the United States.
  4. Go to the Hulu Live TV page and subscribe to the service (don’t worry, you have that seven-day free trial)
  5. Download and install Hulu on your streaming device, or enter the Hulu website on your computer.
  6. Join the live NBC stream just before the Billboard Music Awards ceremony, and you’re all set!
  • It’s a highly competitive era for VPNs, so it’s no surprise that all the leading services are compatible with pretty much anything, including Windows, MacOS computers, iPhone and Android phones, video game consoles like Xbox and Playstation, and all the top digital streaming devices such as Amazon Fire TV, Fire Stick, Roku, Apple TV, Android TV, and more.   
  • Any VPN worth its salt will allow for a minimum 3 simultaneous subscriptions, with some allowing for up to 7 at once. This is more than enough slots to keep your cell phone, laptop, and an auxiliary device connected at all times.
  • Hulu Live TV works with Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, iOS, Android, Amazon Fire TV,, Apple TV, Roku, Xbox 360 and Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, select Samsung and LG TV models, and more.

Your top priorities in choosing a VPN that will best allow you to stream the Billboard Music Awards are 1. U.S.-based servers and 2. the high speeds necessary for HD streaming. The VPNs listed here knock it out of the park in these two categories, but there are differences between them, as well. Check them to see which one best suits your purposes.

ExpressVPN

Our top pick!
  • Always evades internet control in the PRC
  • Keeps ahead of the Netflix VPN detection algorithm
  • Benchmark tests show excellent speed
Check best price ExpressVPN Review

Hotspot Shield

  • Hotspot Shield is one of the fastest VPN services
  • Hotspot Shield works well in places, such as China, where privacy rights are not very strong
  • The Hotspot Shield VPN offers good protection for P2P
Check best price Hotspot Shield VPN Review

VyprVPN

  • Golden Frog, the business behind VyprVPN also runs a gaming platform
  • VyprVPN pioneered obfuscation techniques and they have always worked well
  • VyprVPN’s no logs policy is confirmed by an independent audit
Check best price VyprVPN Review

PureVPN

  • Excellent client with pre-configured modes for streaming, P2P, privacy
  • Kill switch
  • Support for wide range of protocols, including OpenVPN
Check best price PureVPN Review

StrongVPN

  • 7-day money-back guarantee
  • Live chat support
  • Good speeds
Check best price StrongVPN Review

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