Browse channels and the Live programme guide

What the guide tells you

Live brings together accessible channels and their programme information. A programme guide shows what a source says is on now and next. It does not supply the stream itself, and a blank guide does not necessarily mean the channel cannot play.

You need a permitted Live source or a published Channel Studio channel. Provider programme information depends on an available guide feed and correct channel matching. Odyssey supplies no channels or media.

Open a channel and look ahead

1. Open Live from the main navigation.
2. Choose a source or category to narrow the channel list. Favorites collects permitted favourites; Channel Studio shows published personal channels.
3. Select a channel to watch. On touch and pointer layouts, use the available channel or programme controls rather than expecting the television’s remote-focus layout.
4. Switch to the guide or timeline presentation to browse programme times. The compact Live selector uses Channels and Guide; toolbar actions use Timeline and Channel List.
5. Use the previous and next time controls to move through the schedule. The touch toolbar names these Previous 30 minutes and Next 30 minutes.
6. Use Programme Info for information and available programme actions. Return with Now when you want the current guide position.

Know which actions are available

A programme’s actions depend on the connected services and its source. Recording requires the configured supported DVR service and the necessary permissions. Sharing a Live channel is a separate Home DVR flow. Seeing programme information alone does not enable either action.

Local Live rewind, Cloud DVR and Catch Up are unavailable in the app version covered here. Home DVR is the supported recording route and needs a connected service with recording permission.

A practical example

You want to find something after dinner. Open Live, choose the relevant category and use Guide or Timeline to look ahead. Read the programme details, then return to Now before starting the currently airing channel. You have changed your view of the schedule; you have not moved the broadcast itself to a future programme.

For a Channel Studio channel, the displayed programme comes from its published schedule. A saved channel recipe that has never been published belongs in Channel Studio’s editing list and will not become a playable Live channel merely because you refresh the guide.

Platform differences

On iPhone and iPad the toolbar adapts to narrow space, placing controls on more than one row when necessary. Mac uses the app’s wider layout where available. Apple TV has its own focus behaviour for categories, channels and guide controls. Use the control names to identify an action even when its visual arrangement changes.

If focus returns to a category after leaving a channel, move back into that category’s channel list. A settings sheet or programme action may own the remote Back action until it closes.

Missing or incorrect information

The channel plays but the guide is empty: inspect the programme-guide source and refresh status. Use Set up and repair programme information.

The wrong programme appears: check the exact guide-channel assignment. Renaming the channel does not correct its guide identity.

A channel disappeared: check profile access, hidden-channel settings and the selected category or pack. Clear a Channel Studio pack filter with All Channels before assuming its publication was removed.

Do guide time controls change my recording? Browsing changes the displayed time. Scheduling or cancelling a recording is a separate action that requires confirmation in its own flow.