IPTV EPG Not Updating: How to Fix the TV Guide on Any Device

A TV guide that won’t update makes a working service feel broken. The channels play, but the guide shows yesterday’s lineup, says “No information” next to half your favourites, or lists the evening news an hour after it actually started. It’s one of the most common support questions in any IPTV setup, and it’s almost always fixable from your couch.

Most guide problems come down to one of five causes. The guide file didn’t download, it downloaded but the player can’t match it to your channels, the times are converted with the wrong time zone, the player stopped refreshing it, or an old cached copy is getting in the way. Each cause has its own fix, and doing the right one first saves an evening of reinstalling apps.

This article starts with a symptom table so you can jump to the right fix. It then covers Canada’s six time zones (and the places that never change their clocks), refresh settings in TiviMate, IPTV Smarters and IBO Player, channel ID matching, guide URL errors, clearing the cache properly, Kodi and MAG portals.

If you’re new to how an IPTV Canada service delivers its guide, the first section explains the moving parts. If you already know them, skip straight to the table.

How the guide gets from the provider to your screen

Every IPTV program guide follows the same five steps, and each step has its own failure mode.

1. The provider publishes an XMLTV file. This is a large text file listing channels and programs, each with a start time and a stop time. With an Xtream Codes login, the player fetches it automatically from the same server as your channels. With an M3U playlist, its address sits in the playlist header or is entered separately.
2. Your player downloads and unpacks it. The file is often compressed, and for a provider with thousands of channels and several days of listings it’s big. On a slow streaming stick, parsing it can take a minute or more.
3. The player matches guide channels to playlist channels. It does this with an ID, usually the tvg-id attribute in the playlist.
4. It converts the times to your local clock. Each time in the file carries an offset from UTC, and the player converts it using your device’s time zone.
5. It stores the result and refreshes on a schedule. The guide lives in a local database until the next update replaces it.

Here’s what step 4 looks like in practice. A program listed as 20261028230000 +0000 starts at 23:00 UTC on October 28, 2026. On that date Toronto is on Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4), so the guide should show 7:00 p.m.; in Vancouver, on Pacific Daylight Time (UTC−7), it should show 4:00 p.m. If your device thinks it’s somewhere else, every program lands in the wrong slot.

Match the symptom to the cause

Find the row that matches what you see, then go to that section. The table covers nearly every guide complaint.

Before changing anything, run through this quick decision guide:

• Do channels play? If nothing plays either, it’s an account or connection problem, not a guide problem. Start with the error message.
• Is the problem on every channel or only some? Every channel points to the download, the time zone or the refresh. Only some points to ID matching or the source.
• Is the offset a whole number of hours? A clean 1-hour error almost always means daylight saving. A 30-minute error points to Newfoundland time somewhere in the chain.
• Did it start after a clock change in March or November? Then it’s the device time zone, and an EPG shift would only hide it until the next change.
• Did it start after you renewed, changed devices or re-entered your login? Then clear the cached guide first.

When the guide is completely empty

An empty guide on every channel means step 1 or 2 failed: the player never got a usable file. Work through these causes in order.

The update never ran

Players don’t always fetch the guide the moment you add a playlist. Trigger it yourself. In TiviMate, open Settings → EPG and use the update option near the top of the screen. In IPTV Smarters, open Live TV and look for a refresh or install guide option in the menu at the top right. Give it a few minutes on a streaming stick before judging the result.

The account or the URL is the problem

If your account has expired or the login details changed, the guide address usually returns an error instead of a file, even if the channel list is still cached on the device. The section on guide URL errors below explains how to test the address. If you see a number such as 401, 403 or 404, our reference to IPTV error codes tells you what each one means and what to do next.

The device clock is wildly wrong

This one surprises people. If a box loses power and comes back thinking it’s January 1, 2000, the guide contains nothing for that date, so it looks empty. Secure connections can also fail when the date is years off. Turn on automatic time in the device settings (the paths are in the time zone section) and run the update again.

The device has run out of storage

A large guide needs room to unpack and store. A stick with only a few hundred megabytes free can fail silently partway through. On Fire TV, check Settings → My Fire TV → About → Storage and free up space if you’re under roughly 1 GB.

Wrong times: time zones, daylight saving and offsets

Because every time in the guide file carries its own UTC offset, the player only needs one thing from you to get the times right: the correct time zone on the device. That’s where nearly all wrong-time problems live.

The common mistake is reaching for the player’s EPG shift first. A shift fixes today’s display and breaks again at the next clock change, and it hides the real problem. Fix the device first.

Canada’s six time zones

Canada spans six time zones. Daylight saving time starts on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November, at 2:00 a.m. local time, in every area that observes it.

Places that keep the same clock all year

Several parts of Canada don’t change their clocks. If you live in one of them, a generic zone such as “Central” or “Mountain” will be right for half the year and an hour off for the other half. Choose the city entry that matches your area instead.

Some devices offer only a short list of zones. If yours has no entry that matches a no-change area, pick the zone whose clock matches yours right now, and check the guide again after the next clock change.

Fix the device clock and time zone

Set the time zone by city or region name, not as a raw offset such as “GMT−05:00”. A raw offset never changes for daylight saving, which is exactly what produces the classic one-hour error every spring and fall.

On Fire TV:

1. Press Home and open Settings (the gear at the right end of the menu row).
2. Go to Preferences → Time Zone.
3. Choose your country, then the zone that matches your area.
4. Press Home, open your player, run a manual guide update and compare the “now” marker with the clock.

On Android TV and Google TV:

1. Open Settings → System → Date & time.
2. Turn on Automatic date & time (it may be called “Use network-provided time”).
3. Under Set time zone, turn off the automatic option if it picked the wrong zone, then choose your city.
4. Restart the player app and update the guide.

Paths on other devices vary by model and software version; these are the current ones on most units:

Still off by a few hours? Check the feed, then the shift

If the device clock and time zone are right and some listings still look wrong, two less common explanations remain.

Your feed may be right and your expectation wrong

Some channels exist in an eastern and a western version. If you watch the eastern feed in Vancouver, a show listed for 8 p.m. Eastern correctly appears at 5 p.m. on your guide, because that feed really does air it at 5 p.m. your time. The guide isn’t wrong; you’re watching a feed built for another zone. Switch to the western version if one is listed, or use the eastern one to watch prime time early.

When an EPG shift is the right tool

Use the player’s EPG shift only when the device time zone is confirmed correct and the guide is still off by a constant amount, usually on a few channels whose source listings lack a proper offset. Shift those channels rather than the whole guide, if your player allows it.

Where to find it:

• TiviMate: an EPG time shift option exists per guide source (under Settings → EPG, then the source), and in some versions per playlist.
• IPTV Smarters: the shift sits in Settings under a name such as “EPG Timeline” or “EPG shift”, in hours.
• Kodi IPTV Simple Client: a time shift value in the add-on’s EPG settings, with a switch for whether it applies to every channel.
• M3U playlists: some players honour a tvg-shift attribute on individual channel lines, in hours.

Guide stops updating: refresh intervals and background limits

A guide that was fine last week and now ends after today hasn’t broken. It has stopped refreshing. Guide files usually cover a limited window, from a day or two up to about a week ahead depending on the source. When updates stop, the stored listings simply run out.

TiviMate

Open Settings → EPG. In most versions you’ll find an update interval and an option to update when the app starts. Turn on the app-start update and set the interval to once or twice a day. Updating every hour adds load without adding information, since listings don’t change that often. Our walkthrough of every TiviMate setting covers the rest of this screen, including how long past programs are kept for catch-up browsing.

IPTV Smarters

Smarters keeps its refresh options in Settings, often under a heading such as “Automation”, where you can set channels and guide data to refresh every so many days. If you can’t find it in your version, refresh manually from the Live TV menu after renewals or whenever the guide looks thin.

IBO Player and other smart-TV apps

On Samsung and LG TVs, apps such as IBO Player usually reload the guide along with the playlist. If the guide is stale, reload the playlist from the app’s playlist screen, or use the app’s own clear-cache option if it has one. Playlist upload by MAC address and the other setup steps live in our smart TV setup guide.

Fire TV closes apps in the background

Fire OS is aggressive about closing apps you’re not using to save memory. A scheduled overnight update may simply never run because the player was closed. That’s why the “update on app start” option matters so much on Fire TV: the guide refreshes each time you open the app. Give it a minute after launch before deciding the update failed.

Channels with no guide: fixing tvg-id matching

When most channels have listings and a few say “No information”, the player usually can’t link those channels to the guide. Each channel line in an M3U playlist carries an ID, and the guide file uses the same ID for its listings. Here’s a typical playlist line:

#EXTINF:-1 tvg-id="examplenews.ca" tvg-name="Example News HD" group-title="Canada | News",Example News HD

The player looks for “examplenews.ca” in the guide file. If the guide calls the same channel “ExampleNews.ca”, “examplenews.ca.hd” or something else entirely, there’s no match and no listings.

Common reasons for missing guide data:

• The source has no listings for that channel. Some event channels, 24/7 channels and smaller international channels never carry guide data. Nothing on your side will change that.
• The provider changed IDs. After a source update, a few channels can lose their match until the provider corrects them.
• Duplicate versions. An HD, FHD and 4K version of the same channel may share one ID; if one version lacks it, only that one goes blank.
• Mixed sources. If you pair a provider’s playlist with a third-party guide, the IDs often differ completely.

How to fix it:

• In TiviMate Premium, you can assign a guide channel by hand: long-press the channel in the guide, open its edit options and choose the matching guide entry. The wording varies by version.
• In Kodi’s IPTV Simple Client, matching uses the tvg-id first, so a corrected ID in a custom playlist fixes it.
• For channels where the provider’s own guide is missing, send support the exact channel names and the group they sit in. Only the provider can fix the source.

Language is not an error. Québec French channel groups will usually show French titles and descriptions, because that’s how the source lists them. The same goes for international groups in their own languages.

Guide URL errors and how to test the address

With an Xtream Codes login, most players build the guide address for you. With an M3U playlist, or when you add a guide source by hand, you’ll see something like this:

server:port/xmltv.php?username=USERNAME&password=PASSWORD

It must start with the same http or https prefix and use the same port as the server address in your login details. In an M3U file, the guide address can also sit in the first line, after #EXTM3U, as a url-tvg or x-tvg-url attribute.

The usual mistakes:

• Wrong or missing port. If your login shows a port such as 8080, the guide address needs it too.
• http and https mixed up. Using the wrong one typically produces a connection or SSL error.
• Special characters in the password. In a URL, & must be written as %26, # as %23, + as %2B, % as %25 and a space as %20. Otherwise the server reads a broken password.
• The playlist address pasted into the guide field. A get.php address is the playlist; the guide uses xmltv.php.
• Stale login details. If you received new details, every saved address needs them, not just the playlist.

To test the address, paste it into a browser on a computer, ideally in a private window so your password doesn’t sit in the browser’s history. A working address either downloads a file or shows a long page of structured text full of channel and program entries. An error page with a number points to the account, the login or the server; our guide to fixing IPTV login problems covers credentials, ports and URL formats in more depth.

Clearing the guide cache properly

Clearing the cache forces the player to download and rebuild the guide from scratch. It fixes stale listings after renewals, playlist changes and failed updates. Clear the cache, not the data, unless you’re ready to set the app up again.

On Fire TV:

1. Open Settings → Applications → Manage Installed Applications.
2. Select your player app.
3. Choose Force stop, then Clear cache.
4. Open the app again and run a manual guide update.

Clear data also works, but it erases your playlists, favourites and settings. TiviMate Premium can back up your setup first; look for the backup option in its settings. On Android TV and Google TV the same options sit under Settings → Apps, then the app name.

Other devices:

• Samsung TVs: Settings → Support → Device Care → Manage Storage, select the app, then View Details and Clear Cache (path varies by model year).
• LG TVs: most webOS models have no per-app cache button. Use the app’s own clear-cache option, or remove and reinstall the app.
• IBO Player and similar apps: many include a clear-cache entry in their own settings menu.
• Kodi: Settings → PVR & Live TV → General → Clear data, then tick the guide data when asked. Older versions place a similar option in the Guide section.

MAG boxes: the portal guide

On a MAG box, the guide comes from the portal rather than from a separate guide file you can edit. That narrows the causes to three: the box’s clock, the portal’s cached data and the provider’s source.

1. Check the box’s time zone and time server in the system settings. On recent firmware they’re under Settings → System settings → Time settings; older firmware may place them under the network or server settings. Pick your city, not a raw offset.
2. Reload the portal from the box’s settings menu, or restart the box from the power menu. This forces a fresh copy of the channel list and guide.
3. Open a channel and press the guide or info button on the remote. Some portals show listings only in that view, not in the channel list.
4. If every channel shows no guide after a reload while the channels play, the problem is on the portal side. Contact support with the box’s MAC address, printed on the label underneath.

Portal setup and MAC registration are covered step by step in our MAG box setup guide.

What to send support when the guide is broken

If none of the above fixes it, a clear report gets you a faster answer. Live Chat runs 24/7 in English and French through the support page. Include:

• Your device and player app, with the app version if you can find it.
• Your login type: Xtream Codes, M3U playlist or MAG portal.
• The exact symptom, with an example: “three channels in the news group show No information” or “every program is one hour late”.
• Your province and the time zone set on the device.
• A photo of the guide next to the device’s clock, if times are wrong.
• Anything that changed recently, such as a renewal, a new device or a re-entered login.
• What you’ve already tried from this article.

Getting the most out of the guide once it works

A working guide is more than a schedule. In most players, catch-up is browsed through the past part of the guide, so channels with missing listings are also harder to rewind. Keeping the guide healthy is what makes catch-up easy to use on channels whose source keeps an archive.

It also makes favourites lists far more useful. Once your local news, hockey and kids’ channels all show listings, a short favourites group with accurate times beats scrolling through a huge lineup. That’s especially true for households watching across several provinces, where family members compare listings by phone. Our IPTV Canadian channels page explains how the Canadian English and Québec French groups are organized.

If you’re choosing an IPTV subscription, test the guide during a trial as carefully as the picture: check a few channels you watch, confirm the times match your clock, and see how your player handles updates. A free trial of 24 hours is enough to see a full day’s refresh cycle. A complete, accurate guide is one of the less obvious things that separate the best IPTV in Canada from the rest. Installation steps for every device are in our IPTV setup guides.

Key takeaways

• Most “wrong time” guides are a device time zone problem; set the zone by city, not as a raw UTC offset.
• An exact one-hour error after a March or November clock change means a fixed offset or the wrong zone, not a broken guide.
• Saskatchewan, Yukon, north-eastern B.C. and a few other areas need their own city entry, not a generic zone.
• An empty guide means the download failed: check the update, the account, the device clock and free storage.
• “No information” on a few channels is an ID match or source issue; assign manually or report the channel names.
• Clear the cache, not the data, and turn on “update on app start” on Fire TV.