The EPG (Electronic Programme Guide) is the grid showing what is on now and what comes next. It is a separate file from the video stream: when it drifts or empties, playback itself keeps working. Here is how it works and what to check when it misbehaves.
What the guide is actually for
Day to day the guide does three things: it tells you what is on without changing channel, shows how long is left in a programme, and lets you find content by time rather than by number. In apps that support it, it also feeds reminders and the information bar that flashes up when you change channel.
One important point: the EPG is a schedule data file, separate from the video. An empty guide therefore does not mean the service is down, and a correct guide does not guarantee smooth playback. They are two problems to diagnose separately.
Case 1 — The guide shows the wrong time
This is by far the most common problem, and it is nearly always a time-zone question. Guide data is often published in a reference time zone, then converted by the app according to your device's setting.
- Check the system clock first: on Android TV, Settings > System > Date & time. Turn on network-provided automatic time.
- Check the device's time zone (Eastern, Central, Mountain or Pacific, depending on your province).
- Then look in the app's settings for an EPG offset option (often "EPG time shift"), and reset it to zero before trying anything else.
- If the drift is constant — always the same gap, say three hours — apply that offset in the option above rather than changing the television's clock, which would affect everything else.
Daylight saving is a classic cause of a one-hour drift appearing overnight, in March and November. Restarting the app is usually enough to resynchronise.
Case 2 — The guide is empty
An empty guide usually comes from a data file that has not finished loading, or from a corrupted cache.
- Give it time. A guide file covering several days can be several megabytes: on first open, allow one to two minutes on an average connection.
- Force a refresh. Most apps offer an EPG refresh command in their settings.
- Clear the app cache (not its account data, or you will have to re-enter your credentials).
- Check free storage. On a full Fire TV Stick or entry-level box, the guide simply cannot be saved.
Case 3 — The guide is incomplete or wrong on a single channel
When the grid is right everywhere except on a few channels, the problem is the match between the channel identifier and the one in the guide file. That is not something you can fix from the sofa: tell us which channels are affected and we check the mapping on our side. A message with the exact name as it appears on screen is enough.
Settings worth knowing
- Automatic refresh — set it to once a day. More often achieves nothing and taxes the device.
- Number of days displayed — reducing the guide's depth noticeably lightens memory use on a modest device.
- Channel sorting — most apps let you hide unused categories, which makes the guide far easier to read day to day.
Daylight saving and seasonal changes
Twice a year, when clocks shift to and from daylight saving time, a programme guide can sit an hour out for a day or two. The cause is almost always the same: the device or the app is holding the old offset until it has been restarted.
The right reflex: restart the device, then check in its settings that date and time are on automatic and that the time zone matches your region. A device set manually will never follow the seasonal change.
One Canadian particularity is worth knowing: most of Saskatchewan does not observe daylight saving time. For half the year, a device set to a neighbouring zone will therefore show a one-hour offset there — and that is not a guide fault. Select the province's time zone explicitly rather than relying on automatic network detection.
Why a guide fills in gradually
A programme guide is a substantial amount of data: several days of listings across a large number of channels. The app downloads and caches it, which is why it sometimes looks empty for the first minute and then fills in block by block.
Three practical consequences. On first launch after an installation, allow a minute or two before concluding that the guide is broken. After clearing an app's cache the same delay returns — that is expected. And on a slow connection the guide fills in proportionally more slowly: an empty guide on a congested rural link is often a bandwidth symptom rather than a configuration one.
If the guide stays empty beyond a few minutes on a sound connection, work back through the cases above, then report it to support specifying the device and the app in use.
In summary
Remember the distinction: the guide and the video are two different streams. A drifting guide is nearly always fixed through the time zone and the EPG offset option; an empty one, through a refresh and a cleared cache. If only a few channels are affected, write to us — that mapping is fixed on our side.
Need a service already set up for your devices? See the KING365TV subscriptions, guided installation included.