Channels and content categories
What live television and an on-demand library each give you, how the programme guide and catch-up behave, and the honest answer to “will I get the channel I care about?”
Two different things in one subscription
An IPTV subscription usually carries two kinds of content, and they behave quite differently once you are using them.
Live channels run to a schedule, exactly like broadcast television. You tune in to whatever is on; you cannot start a programme from the beginning unless catch-up covers that channel. This is the part people mean when they talk about “channels”, and it is where the programme guide matters.
On-demand content behaves like the streaming apps you already use. Films and series sit in a library, you start them when you like, and you can pause and resume. Series are grouped by season so a part-watched run is easy to pick up.
The categories
These are the groupings you will find in the player. They describe the shape of the service rather than guaranteeing any particular item within them.
Live television
Scheduled channels playing in real time, the closest equivalent to traditional broadcast TV.
Films
On-demand titles you start when you choose, rather than catching at a scheduled time.
Series
Episodic programming organised by season, so you can pick up where you stopped.
Sport
Live sport is the most region-dependent category of all. Confirm what is available to you before you order.
News
Rolling news channels, typically available across a wide range of countries and languages.
International
Channels grouped by country and language — often the main reason people look at IPTV in the first place.
Why this page does not list channel names
Plenty of sites in this category publish a wall of network logos and league badges. We are not going to, and the reason is practical rather than coy.
Channel availability in this market is genuinely variable. It changes by region, it changes over time, and it is affected by arrangements that sit upstream of any reseller. A list published today can be wrong next month. If you chose a twelve-month subscription because a particular channel appeared on a web page, and it then turned out not to reach you, the list would have cost you real money.
So the honest sequence is the other way round: tell us the handful of things you actually care about, and we will tell you whether they are available to you before you pay — rather than after.
The single most useful message you can send usName the three or four channels or categories that would make or break this for you, and say roughly where you are watching from. That is enough for a straight yes or no, and it takes one message rather than a browsing session.
Programme guide and catch-up
The electronic programme guide, usually shortened to EPG, is the grid showing what is on now and next. Catch-up lets you go back to something that has already been broadcast.
Both depend on data supplied per channel, which means coverage is uneven rather than uniform. Some channels carry a full guide and several days of catch-up; others carry a thin guide or none at all. Your player has to support the feature too — not every app implements catch-up, and some implement it only for channels that advertise it in a particular way.
Picture quality
Resolution is decided by the source stream. Where a channel or title is provided in 4K, and your television, your player and your connection can all handle it, that is what you get. A great many channels are broadcast in HD or standard definition and will play at those resolutions regardless of how good your equipment is.
The streaming section of the homepage covers the four factors that actually govern playback, and the support page covers what to do when one of them misbehaves.
Ask before you order, not after
Send us the channels or categories that matter to you and where you are watching from. You will get a straight answer, and it costs nothing to ask.