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SCHEDULING

TV scheduling software. A grid that holds time, not a playlist that drifts.

The schedule is the channel. Build the week once in a browser, with recurring blocks, loops, series in order and live slots that switch on time; let auto-fill close the gaps; publish the programme guide from the same plan; and keep an as-run log of what actually aired. Included in every channel plan, and on the FAST plan the grid can be generated from your rules.

Step by step

From library to grid to guide

Five steps, and the last two happen on their own once the first three are done.

  1. The library feeds the grid

    Every upload lands in the channel library with its duration, series, season and episode, genre and rating. Loudness is measured and normalised on upload, and a clip can be trimmed frame-accurately with its own ad markers, so what goes into the grid is broadcast-ready before it is placed.

  2. Build the week once

    Drag programmes into a weekly grid. Recurring blocks handle the daily strips, series play in order, loops carry the overnight, and a fixed slot stays fixed whatever moves around it. Change a block and every future week that inherits it changes too.

  3. Let nothing fall through

    Auto-fill closes gaps from the library under the rules you set; a standby screen holds anything it cannot. Missed items and schedule gaps raise alerts before they reach a viewer.

  4. Publish the guide from the same plan

    XMLTV for listings partners and cable guides, JSON for apps, a branded web guide for viewers, up to 14 days ahead, regenerated whenever the grid changes. One plan, three outputs, never re-exported by hand.

  5. Prove what aired

    The as-run log records each item with its actual start, drift in seconds, and every SCTE-35 cue, exportable as JSON or CSV and kept for a year. It is the record a sponsor is shown and a distributor asks for.

The scheduler

What the grid can do.

Everything below is driven from the same weekly grid, which is the point: one plan, and playout, the guide, the breaks and the log all follow it.

Blocks

Recurring blocks and series in order

The nine o’clock news strip, the Saturday film, the overnight loop, set once and inherited by every week after. Series air in episode order and pick up where they left off.

Live

Scheduled live blocks

A slot that switches to a contribution feed on time and hands back on time, holds under manual control when the show runs long, and falls back to the schedule if the feed drops.

Timing

Planned length, and the hour filled

Give a show its planned length and the rundown shows, in seconds and before air, how far the content runs over or under it: red for over, since the slot end cuts it, amber for short. Fill to slot tops up the rest of the hour from your filler pool until nothing shorter fits, and it never stretches a programme to make one fit.

Breaks

Ad markers per airing

Breaks marked on a file are inherited by every airing, with per-instance overrides. Every break is signalled with SCTE-35 the moment the schedule reaches it, and the cue is logged.

Generated

AI scheduling from your rules

On the FAST plan and up: dayparts, genre mix, repeat spacing, pinned slots and pod rules go in; weeks of editable grid come out, with guide metadata filled from library tags.

Guide

Fourteen days, three formats

XMLTV, JSON and a web guide generated from the grid and regenerated on every change. A listing that matches what is airing, on the cable box and in the app.

Log

As-run, kept for a year

Actual start times, drift in seconds, every cue, exportable as JSON or CSV. The answer to "did it air" is a download.

The details

Why a schedule beats a playlist, and where it gets hard

A playlist is the first thing every new channel builds and the first thing it outgrows. Files play in order, each starting when the last one ends, and by Thursday the 9pm film starts at 9:07 because Tuesday’s episode ran long. A schedule is anchored to the clock: the film starts at 9:00 whatever came before, the item before it is trimmed or padded to fit, and the guide can promise a time because the grid keeps it. That is the difference viewers notice and listings partners require.

Where scheduling gets hard

Week one is easy. Month three is where a 24/7 channel is hardest to run by hand: 730 hours to fill, series that must not repeat within a day, a library that has grown past what anyone remembers, and the Saturday match that moves every week. The scheduler’s job is to make those rules once and enforce them: recurring blocks so the strip is built once, series order so the episode count is kept for you, repeat spacing so the same film is not on twice on Sunday, and auto-fill so a gap is filled from the library under those same rules rather than by whatever was nearest. On the FAST plan and up, AI scheduling takes the rules and drafts the weeks, and the draft is an ordinary grid you correct.

The plan is also the guide, the breaks and the record

The same grid publishes the programme guide in XMLTV, JSON and a web page, carries the SCTE-35 ad breaks each airing signals, and writes the as-run log playout keeps for a year. Nothing is exported by hand and nothing is kept in a second system, which is what makes a schedule change on Tuesday true everywhere on Tuesday. Live slots sit in the same grid: the contribution feed arrives over RTMP, SRT or RIST, the block switches on time and hands back on time, and a dropped feed falls back to the schedule.

The cost

Scheduling is part of the channel, not a licence beside it. Every channel plan, from $254 per month, includes the grid, the guide, the graphics and unlimited delivery; AI scheduling is on the FAST plan and up. The playout software guide covers what to check in any scheduler, installed or cloud.

EVERY CHANNEL INCLUDES
Questions

Scheduling, answered.

What is TV scheduling software?

The tool that decides what a channel plays and when, days or weeks ahead, and hands that plan to playout to execute. It holds the weekly grid, the recurring blocks, the loops, the live slots and the ad breaks, and it publishes the programme guide from the same plan. Here it is part of the channel, not a separate product.

What is the difference between a playlist and a schedule?

A playlist plays files in order and starts the next one when the last one ends. A schedule knows that the news is at nine on weekdays, that the film after it starts at 9:30 whatever ran before, that Saturday is different, and that a live match on the 14th replaces the usual block. Playlists drift; schedules hold time.

How far ahead can I schedule?

As far as you like. The programme guide publishes up to 14 days ahead as XMLTV, JSON and a web page, and regenerates whenever the grid changes, so a change made on Tuesday reaches every listing on Tuesday.

Can the software build the schedule for me?

On the FAST plan and up, AI scheduling generates weeks of grid from the library under your rules: dayparts with a genre mix each, no repeat within a set number of hours or days, series in order, pinned fixed slots, ad breaks inside pod rules. The output is an ordinary schedule you edit like any other.

Can I schedule a live show inside the grid?

Yes. A scheduled live block switches to a contribution feed over RTMP, SRT or RIST at its start time and hands back at its end, or holds under manual control if the show runs long. If the feed drops, the block falls back to the schedule or a standby screen and returns when the feed does.

Will I know before air if a show is too short or too long for its slot?

Yes. Each programme in the rundown can carry a planned length, and the row shows the difference between plan and content in seconds: red when the content runs over, because the slot end cuts it, amber when it runs short. A footer line says how far the whole playlist ends before or after its slot, and Fill to slot closes that gap from your filler pool without stretching anything.

What happens if a slot is empty or a file is missing?

Auto-fill closes the gap from the library, or a standby screen holds it, and a missed item raises an alert in the console and by email. Dead air does not reach a screen, and you find out why it nearly did.

Does the same schedule drive the ad breaks?

Yes. Breaks marked on a file are inherited by every airing, with per-airing overrides where an episode needs them, and each break is signalled with SCTE-35 in the stream at the moment the schedule reaches it. The as-run log records every cue that fired.

What does it cost?

It is included in every channel plan, from $254 per channel per month billed yearly or $299 month to month, with playout, graphics, the guide and unlimited delivery. AI scheduling is on the FAST plan and up.

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