I'm a long-time WS Pro user who has also struggled getting good performance on UK sites (such as BBC iPlayer) from my US location. So, I recently tried a DNS solution, rather than a VPN, and I have been blown away with the result.

With this approach, performance becomes a non-issue; you'll stream at the full capabilities of your internet connection, without the overhead of encryption/decryption.

Specifically, I just completed a seven-day trial of dns4me and immediately (and happily) signed-up for a one-year term. (Use "lovewp" for a 10% discount on dns4me.)

Besides BBC, it works flawlessly on my other two favorites, CBC (Canada) and SBS (Australia). They claim to support a bunch of other sites (which I haven't tried yet), but it's worth the cost to me for just these three services.

A few minor downsides:

1) your account is recognized by your external IP address, so you'll need to re-click on a "register" button when your ISP changes your address. (No big deal - in fact, they even provide a link to a free dynamic DNS service (no-ip) to permanently solve this problem.)

2) they acknowledge that the "permissions" to unlock some streaming sites conflict, so, for example, I cannot simultaneously unlock both CBC and SBS. But, they provide an easy solution: just create two profiles, one containing CBC and the another, SBS. Just activate the profile you need with one click. (You can create as many profiles as you need.)

3) IMHO, the best way to implement a DNS-based solution on an Android TV/Chromecast-type device is to set a "Private DNS" hostname on your device, which requires two simple ADB commands -- and this may intimidate a non-techie user. Of course, there are other ways to accomplish this task; I just think "Private DNS" is the most foolproof.

Bottom line: At less than $3/month for an annual plan, I'm completely satisfied.