How matching works
Each channel in your playlist carries an ID in its tvg-id tag, for example tvg-id="news.example". The guide file lists programmes under channel IDs. The app puts programmes on a channel only when the two IDs are identical. They’re case-sensitive and must match exactly, including dots and country suffixes.
Find out which problem you have
- Check whether the guide has the channel. If you can open the guide file (see EPG URL), search it for the channel’s name. If it isn’t there at all, the guide doesn’t cover it.
- Compare IDs. If the channel appears in the guide, compare its ID with the
tvg-idin your playlist. Our M3U tags reference shows where the ID sits. - Look for patterns. If all channels of one country or group are missing, a whole block of IDs has changed or isn’t covered.
Fixes
The IDs don’t match
- Refresh the playlist and the guide. Providers sometimes fix IDs on their side.
- Match channels by hand if your app or server allows it. Several players and media servers let you assign guide data to a channel manually. Media-server tools such as Dispatcharr are built for this.
- Edit the playlist’s
tvg-idso it matches the guide ID. This works with downloaded playlists or a playlist editor; see how to edit an IPTV playlist.
The guide doesn’t cover the channel
- Report it to your provider with the channel names.
- Add a second guide source if your app supports more than one and you know another source covers those channels. See EPG sources.
- Accept the gap for channels with no published listings, such as some pop-up or event channels.
When every channel is empty
If the whole guide shows nothing, matching isn’t the issue. The guide isn’t loading at all; go to TV guide not loading.