Live TV

Catalogs of channels don't show as libraries in Jellyfin clients. Together they make up Live TV: one list of channels, their groups, and a programme guide. The guide uses Stremio's own format, so the same catalog fills Stremio's guide too.

Channel catalogsCopy Anchor Link

A catalog is a live one when its type is tv or channel, or when it declares the date extra of a guide. Its entries are the channels, in the catalog's order, one catalog after another in the configuration's catalog order.

"catalogs": [
  {
    "type": "tv",
    "id": "channels",
    "name": "Channels",
    "extra": [{ "name": "genre", "options": ["News", "Sports", "Kids"] }, { "name": "skip" }]
  }
]

An entry also opens as a channel outside a live catalog when its type is tv or channel, its meta has behaviorHints.isLive: true, or every one of its videos has a startTime.

ChannelsCopy Anchor Link

Channels are ordinary catalog entries and metas, with these fields read as well:

A channel's streams are its sources, each a version the user can switch to. The apps reopen a source that drops, and move on to the next one when it keeps failing.

GuidesCopy Anchor Link

A guide catalog declares the date extra; set behaviorHints.epgProvider in the manifest too for Stremio to show it. It is asked for one UTC day at a time, and answers with its channels and each channel's programmes that day. Stremio reads the answer from metasDetailed, so send the entries there rather than in metas.

{
  "behaviorHints": { "epgProvider": true },
  "catalogs": [
    {
      "type": "tv",
      "id": "guide",
      "name": "Guide",
      "extra": [{ "name": "date" }, { "name": "genre", "options": ["News", "Sports"] }, { "name": "skip" }]
    }
  ]
}

GET {addonBase}/catalog/tv/guide/date=2026-11-05&skip=100.json

{
  "metasDetailed": [
    {
      "id": "mytv:bbc-news",
      "type": "tv",
      "name": "BBC News",
      "logo": "https://…",
      "channelNumber": 231,
      "videos": [
        {
          "id": "mytv:bbc-news:1762300800",
          "title": "Newsday",
          "startTime": "2026-11-05T00:00:00Z",
          "endTime": "2026-11-05T01:00:00Z",
          "overview": "The latest news from around the world.",
          "thumbnail": "https://…",
          "genres": ["News"]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Stremio also asks without date to list the channels alone; answer that as usual, in metas.

The guide covers a week from today, and as far back as the addons declare catch-up. Channels are listed from pages without a date, and their programmes are asked for from the same catalog, group and page with one, so keep a channel on the same page with or without a date.

A guide that also declares the ids extra is asked for just the channels on screen, by their ids, comma-separated. Answer with those channels in metasDetailed, whatever page they're on:

GET {addonBase}/catalog/tv/guide/ids=mytv%3Abbc-news,mytv%3Aitv1&date=2026-11-05.json

Catch-upCopy Anchor Link

A channel with behaviorHints.catchupDays keeps its programmes that long. Any programme of its that has begun within those days plays from its start: AIOStreams asks for the programme's own video id as the stream, and plays what you answer as a recording rather than live.

GET {addonBase}/stream/tv/mytv:bbc-news:1762300800.json

{ "streams": [{ "url": "https://…/archive/bbc-news/2026-11-05T00-00/60.ts", "name": "Catch-up" }] }

Answer with the programme from its start to its end, or no streams where it's gone. A stream that can be seeked plays best; an Xtream archive (/timeshift/…) only plays from where it starts.

Declare the longest catch-up of your channels in the manifest too, and the guide goes that many days back. Without it, the guide starts today.

"behaviorHints": { "epgProvider": true, "catchupDays": 7 }