#1Documentary from Nadja Kölling and Vanessa Nöcker about the soccer world championship 1990 in Italy.
Ein Sommer in Italien - WM 1990
★ 8.42026
Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten has run on German screens for more than three decades, and German speakers who live abroad, language learners and fans of German TV all want a way in. Pair that daily soap with the DSDS talent show, Formula 1 sessions and a slate of live NFL games, and you can see why the catalogue draws viewers far beyond its home turf. The catch is that RTL+ stays locked to the German-speaking area: the moment RTL+ spots a foreign IP address, the player stops and an error replaces your episode.
The platform is run by RTL Deutschland (Bertelsmann) and grew into one of the biggest streaming services in the German-speaking world. It officially works in 5 countries and stays blocked everywhere else. From your country the workaround is a capable VPN that places you virtually inside Germany. We recommend Surfshark, which signs you in and plays back cleanly, so where you actually live no longer decides what you can watch.
Tested weekly by our team. Green: works, amber: partial, red: blocked.
| VPN Service | Price | RTL+ | Tested | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
SurfsharkBEST | From $1.78/mo | ✓ Works | September 13 | Try it |
ExpressVPN | From $2.79/mo | ✓ Works | September 14 | Open |
NordVPN | From $2.99/mo | ✓ Works | September 13 | Open |
ProtonVPN | From $3.59/mo | ✓ Works | September 8 | Open |
Private Internet Access | From $1.79/mo | ✓ Works | September 10 | Open |
CyberGhost | From $1.75/mo | ✓ Works | September 11 | Open |
IPVanish | From $2.19/mo | ✓ Works | September 14 | Open |
Takes about 2 minutes. Works on your phone, tablet, TV, PC, or laptop.
RTL+ works in 5 countries, including in Germany, in Austria, in Liechtenstein, in Luxembourg and in Switzerland. In 189 more it is blocked, and outside available regions you will need a VPN.
RTL+ is blocked in the United States, in the United Kingdom, in Australia, in Canada and in New Zealand, plus in 184 more countries. To access it, use a premium VPN like Surfshark.
RTL+ is the streaming platform of Bertelsmann-owned RTL Deutschland, launched back in 2007 as RTL Now before going through two rebrands (TVNow, then RTL+ in late 2021). On top of the expected TV catalogue (reality formats like Deutschland sucht den Superstar, daily soaps, plus Formula 1 and, in some seasons, NFL coverage) the service bundles a music library powered by Deezer and an audiobook catalogue. The lineup runs from entry-level Basic through Premium and the ad-free Premium Werbefrei up to RTL+ Musik, which adds the music and audiobook catalogue, while the Family tier opens up more profiles. They differ in simultaneous streams, picture quality and music access.

5 tips from our RTL+ testing team · Updated July 13, 2026
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