There have been several HOWTOs posted regarding streaming the 2012 Olympics using HTTP / SOCKS proxies via SSH and other similar methods. None of these actually work using the latest Flash on Mountain Lion (with Firefox, Chrome or Safari). Additionally, the third-party streaming sites don't provide BBC's amazing interface, which lets you quickly skip to individual competitors and events. However, setting up an OpenVPN server does work, with some tweaks. You'll get the exact same UX that people in England receive.
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Get a Linode VM in the UK. The 512MB server for $20 works just fine. (If you want to use my referral link, go for it: http://bit.ly/OuzdVe)
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Follow the standard OpenVPN installation documentation. (Basically, 'apt-get install openvpn' or 'yum install openvpn' and then follow these docs: http://openvpn.net/index.php/open-source/documentation/howto.html). For an OS X client, I prefer Viscosity: http://www.thesparklabs.com/viscosity/ .
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Push the following routes from your OpenVPN server. These are all the IPs the BBC uses for streaming recorded and live Olympics games. You can put this inside your OpenVPN server.conf file:
push "route 212.58.224.0 255.255.128.0"
push "route 68.142.94.242 255.255.255.255"
push "route 68.142.94.239 255.255.255.255"
push "route 69.22.163.44 255.255.255.255"
push "route 77.72.118.168 255.255.255.255"
push "route 66.235.128.0 255.255.224.0"
push "route 23.32.0.0 255.224.0.0"
push "route 141.101.126.37 255.255.255.255"
push "route 80.239.224.0 255.255.255.128"- Put these entries in your /etc/hosts file:
80.239.224.43 a974.w23.akamai.net bbchdsodsecure-f.akamaihd.net
23.63.98.9 open.bbci.co.uk open-bbci.bbc.net.uk open.bbci.co.uk.edgesuite.net a1638.g2.akamai.net
23.63.99.226 ichef.bbci.co.uk
77.72.118.168 sa.bbc.co.uk
23.62.53.67 static.bbci.co.uk- Connect to your new VPN and go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/2012/live-video . All done!