EPG Showing the Wrong Time or Programme? How to Fix It

When an EPG (electronic programme guide) shows the wrong programme or is out by an hour, the cause is almost always a time offset, a daylight saving mismatch, or a channel being matched to the wrong guide entry. The fix is usually a setting, not a new file.

Work through the checks below in order. Each one rules out a distinct cause.

Quick answer: If every programme is out by the same amount, it is a time offset: check the device time zone, the XMLTV offsets and the player's EPG time-shift setting. If only some channels are wrong, the ids are mismatched. If the guide looks old, refresh or clear the cache.

Is every channel out by the same amount, or just some?

This single question narrows things down.

How do XMLTV time offsets work?

In an XMLTV file, each programme time is written like 20261024180000 +0100: date, time, a space, then the offset from UTC. +0100 is British Summer Time and +0000 is Greenwich Mean Time. A well-formed player converts these to your local time. Problems start when a file has the wrong offset, has no offset (so the player assumes UTC) or labels local times with a UTC offset. Open the file in a text editor and look at a programme you know the real time of. See the XMLTV guide for the format.

Why does it go wrong when the clocks change?

The UK moves to BST on the last Sunday of March and back to GMT on the last Sunday of October. In 2026 the clocks go back on Sunday 25 October. Around those dates, a guide can be an hour out if the file was generated with the old offset, the device has not picked up the change, or the player cached the old times. Refresh the guide a day or two after the change, and make sure the device is set to adjust the time automatically.

How do I check the device time zone?

1. Open the device settings and go to date and time.
2. Turn on automatic date and time (network-provided) if it is available.
3. Set the time zone to London (or your correct region) rather than a fixed GMT offset, because a fixed "GMT+0" will not follow daylight saving.
4. Restart the player after changing it.

An incorrect device clock can also break secure connections, so check it even if times look only slightly off.

What is the EPG time-shift setting?

Many players have a time-shift or offset option for the guide, letting you move all programme times forward or back by a number of hours. In some playlists, a tvg-shift attribute is also used, though support varies by app. Use it as a last resort for a consistent whole-hour error that you cannot fix at the source, and remember to reset it if the cause is later corrected, or the guide will be wrong the other way. The setting's name and location differ between apps, so check your player's documentation. Our guides to TiviMate and OTT Navigator cover their menus.

Could the channel be matched to the wrong guide entry?

If some channels show a plausible but wrong programme, the player may have matched the wrong id (for example a regional variant or a similarly named channel). Check the tvg-id in your M3U playlist against the channel id in the guide. Use the player's manual mapping to correct it, and remember ids must match exactly.

How do I clear a stale EPG?

1. Look for a refresh or update guide option and run it.
2. If that fails, clear the EPG data in the player, or clear the app cache in the device settings.
3. Reload the guide, and wait for the import to finish.
4. As a last resort, remove the guide address, restart the app, and add it again.

Clearing the cache removes temporary data only. Clearing the app's full data usually erases your settings, so avoid that unless you have a backup.

Still wrong?

Post the player, your time zone, one example of a wrong programme, and the real and displayed times in the EPG and guides forum. Do not post playlist addresses or logins.

How can I confirm where the error is coming from?

Isolate the cause with a simple test. Pick one programme whose real start time you know, such as a news bulletin. Find that programme in the guide file itself, using a text editor, and read its start value and offset. Then compare these three things:

1. The file. Does the time, once you apply the offset, match the real broadcast time?
2. The device. Does the device clock match the real time and the correct zone?
3. The player. Does the guide in the app show the same time as the file converts to?

If the file is right and the player is wrong, look at the device zone and the player setting. If the file is wrong, no setting on your side will fix it cleanly, and the time shift is a workaround.

Does it matter which player I use?

Players handle time zones and offsets differently, and some let you choose whether to trust the offset in the file or to treat times as local. Behaviour also changes between versions, so a problem that appears after an update is worth reporting to the developer. If a file looks correct but one app shows it wrongly while another shows it properly, the cause is the app and not the guide. Testing the same guide in a second player is a quick way to tell.

What should I do twice a year?

After each clock change in March and October, refresh the guide, check one programme time and confirm the device has updated its own clock. It takes a minute and avoids the hour-out problem lingering for days. If you used a manual time shift to compensate for the previous change, adjust it back at the same time.