EPG, catch-up and on-demand are three different things
Buyers often report "catch-up is broken" when the channel simply never had catch-up enabled. Asking "which of my channels have catch-up, and for how many days" before purchase avoids that entirely.
| Feature | What it does | Common limitation |
|---|---|---|
| EPG | Shows what is on now and next beside each channel. | Coverage varies per channel group; some feeds carry no schedule data at all. |
| Catch-up | Plays a programme that already aired on that channel. | Enabled per channel, usually for a limited number of days. |
| On demand (VOD) | A separate library of films and series. | Unrelated to the live schedule; titles rotate. |
Why guide times look wrong
Work through those in order. A guide that is consistently offset by a whole number of hours is a timezone or offset setting; a guide that is wrong on some channels and right on others is coverage, not configuration.
- The device timezone is set to a different region than the household. Check the TV or streaming stick’s own settings, not the app’s.
- The player has a manual EPG offset applied, often left over from a previous setup.
- The guide data is published against UTC and the player is not converting it.
- A channel’s schedule belongs to a different regional feed than the one you are watching.
What to verify before you buy
- Name the five channels you would actually use the guide for.
- Ask whether those channels carry EPG data, and whether catch-up is enabled on them.
- Ask how many days of catch-up those channels retain.
- Confirm which players are known to render that guide data correctly.
- After activation, check those same five before setting up any other device.
Questions people ask
Why is my IPTV guide empty?
Guide data loads separately from video, so an empty schedule with working playback points at the guide source or the player’s refresh, not at your subscription. Refresh the guide in the player, let it finish, then check whether all channels or only some are affected.
Why are the programme times shifted by a few hours?
Almost always a timezone setting on the device, or a manual EPG offset left in the player. A consistent whole-hour shift across every channel is the signature of that problem.
Is catch-up available on every channel?
No. Catch-up is enabled per channel and retained for a limited window. Ask which of your specific channels support it, and for how many days, before buying on that basis.