ByTonyB

Free to Air – Australian XML TV Guide

Update: March 2023

4th – Please keep sending through missing stations, we have also updated the scripts so please let us know if you notice any issues.
5th – Please check stations and your mappings before raising a question as we are doing regular updates.
– readded support for duplicate channels
28th – Updated Canberra Channels
Added 9Rush for Gold Coast
We will start removing legacy .XMLTV files. If this affects you please reconfigure plex to use the .XML files listed below.

30th – All *.xmltv files are now removed – please link to the standard xml files
– Cleaned up out of region channels – please let us know if you are missing or need these channesl removed for your region.

Update: Feb 2023

Please note due to recent changes in the guide providers we have had to modify this service.

We have changed the way we retrieve and update the XML files. Please note the following;

  • The regions may be slightly different so you may have to select a new region
  • You may have to remap channel in Plex.
  • In some cases the first day will display “unknown airing” in plex however will be fine the next day
  • All the regions are now complete (pls send through suggestions if yours is not listed).
    • If your region hasn’t been updated please double check above, if still not working send through a message in the comments.
    • If channels are missing please again follow instructions and message us with details in comments.

The guide generally will be updated daily and contain 7 days but may occasionally fall short.

This was the collaborative effort of a number people to provide the XML Guide to Plex users in Australia. Big Shout out to Mark and Michelle who made this all possible. The github site with their work can be found here.

The following links are for Freeview Guide for Australian Cities. This was primarily designed for Plex users and the instructions can be found on the Plex Website for using an XML Guide.

We recommend changing the DVR settings in Plex to check the guide every 12 hours to assist in keeping your guide updated.

If you are using another device please be considerate of the providers we do not test the compatibility or use on any other system. We provide this service free of charge and we cannot test every tuner/pvr etc.

To help us track any questions and request please submit them on the github page. Before submitting any questions;
a) Please rescan the channels in the Plex Live TV & DVR setup for all tuners.
b) Ensure all the channels are mapped correctly, if you have multiple tuners check all tuners.
c) Please include the region you are in to assist in any troubleshooting.
d) Please also check with Plex forums first as most issues are in the configuration in Plex.

To use the XML just cut and paste the below link for your locations into the “XMLTV Guide” location during DVR setup.

173 Replies to “Free to Air – Australian XML TV Guide”

  1. Hello,
    appears there are a couple of channels missing for Canberra?
    **: 7mateHD
    No Channels found for lcn: 64
    **: 7Bravo
    No Channels found for lcn: 65
    **: Racing.com
    No Channels found for lcn: 68
    **: TVSN
    No Channels found for lcn: 84
    **: Gold
    No Channels found for lcn: 85

    Reply

  2. Has the program description info between … gone for good, or is it low priority and you’ll put it back later?

    Reply

  3. I think the recent changes have resulted in the loss of the brief spiel about the program or episode line in the programme data. I like to have it as it populates the metadata of my recordings. Is this an intended omission or has it simply been forgotten/misplaced?

    Reply

  4. Have noticed an issue since the swap to Fetch data. Some channels are showing SBS sub-titles. For example, in the Regional_NT database, Imparja shows an SBS sub-title (Hindi News Dd 2022) for some reason.

    Nine News
    Hindi News Dd 2022
    News

    2023-03-07 18:00:00

    Reply

    1. Hi,
      Sorry we do not have anything to do with subtitles. Are you referring to guide data? CAn you please provide some more information?

      Reply

  5. Thanks for the service.

    I use MythTV and guide data is now working (Hobart) after updating channel IDs twice (as per Louis’ comment).

    However there does not seem to be any descriptions in the guide data any more?
    I’ve also tried running the scripts directly on my server, see issue #61 on Github page.

    Reply

    1. Hi Clint,
      Should be working now and we think we have stabilised the service. Please let us know if you continue to have the issue.

      Reply

  6. Thanks for all the good work. I’ve had to change all the channel settings in my PVRLive setup in my Nvidia Shield. It wasn’t too bad as PVRLive has a search feature which finds the channel as you type in the number, so you don’t have to type in the whole line.
    My next step is changing the EPG settings in NextPVR, which is just a question of selecting from a drop-down list for each channel.

    Reply

  7. Thanks for the xmltv guide (I use mythTV). I understand some technical changes are going on by reading GitHub.
    For others having issues, I had to manually update my channel IDs two days in a row (all good now, I’m getting a week of guide data).
    For example with ABC HD channel 20, I changed it yesterday from 20.yourtv.com.au to 20auepg.com.au and today to 431738auepg.com.au to align with the updated ID in your published Melbourne.xml file.

    Reply

  9. Hey, thanks for the great guide you provide.

    I was hoping that 7Mate HD channel 64 could be added to the canberra.xml file, it looks to be missing. I think it moved from SD to HD and has a new channel number of 64.

    Thanks

    Reply

    1. Hi Scott
      We have changed the guides can you please check to see if it has been added now. Please following the instructions at xmltv.net

      All the Best

      Reply

      1. Hi TonyB,
        Channel 53 Skynews Regional seems to be missing from the Tamworth Listing.
        It was in there before the change.

        Reply

  10. I’ve noticed in the Newcastle location that the URL’s for the icons for Channels 62 and 74 are no longer valid.
    Any chance of an update?

    Thanks,

    Greg

    Reply

    1. Hi Greg,
      We have changed the feed and the icons should now be coming through. Please follow the instructions on the blog and let us know.

      All the best

      Reply

  11. I noticed 9GEM HD (i.e. channel 95) no longer has EPG data. Have checked yourtv.com.au and looks like they are not publishing it there either. Any ideas why?

    Reply

      1. Sorry for the late reply. I’m in Sydney. I managed to fix the issue myself by using data from channel 92 since they are both GEM (one in SD while the other in HD).

        Reply

  12. Notice goldcoast xml is not populating guide past this weekend in emby (nothing for 18th Sep on). The data is there however in the xml file. Tried Brisbane guide and same issue also – so may be an emb issue – but I have not updated emby in a while. Not sure if this is a guide issue, or an emby issue ?

    Reply

    1. Hi All,
      We are trying hard to keep the service up however the power that be are against us. If we cannot resolve this shortly we may not be able to continue to provide this service. WE have tried to contact yourtv with no luck.

      Reply

  13. I’m having a problem with the guide data for Sydney, NSW, using http://xmltv.net/xml_files/Sydney.xml. Plex seems to be showing all the guide data correctly, but when I try and connect to Channels 7, 70, 71 and above, (9, 90, etc) Plex only responds with “Playback Error ….. Could not tune channel. Please check your tuner or antenna.”
    My tuner is a VBox XTi. The Guide data appears to be correct and all Channels play correctly through VLC Media Player –> Universal Plug’n’Play –> VBox TV Gateway (vbox_4952). All Channels get listed and VLC Media Player has no problem playing every Channel correctly.
    I’m at a complete loss as to why the XML data is correct; VLC Media Player can correctly play all the video Channels, yet Plex is failing to play any Channels other than 1, 2, 20, 21, 22,30, 32. Attempts to play the higher numbered Channels through Plex always fails.
    Is the issue solely occurring with the VBox TV Gateway device? I didn’t have the problem with HDHomeRun in the past.
    I’d really like some assistance in resolving this issue.

    Reply

  14. For Brisbane XML, there is duplicate channel 95 in the XML and it’s cause the guide to crash. Can one of them be removed please?

    Reply

    1. Hi Roger,
      Have checked the XML and there is only one 95. Have also checked the guide with no issues. Can you please update the guide and, if that doesn’t work recheck the mapping in plex.
      If that fails please let us know.

      Reply

  15. Hi guys,

    Just started using your service and the EPG guide is missing a lot of artwork from many shows. Is that something that your XML normally does or is something else in plex responsible for getting the cover icon metadata for all the shows that are pulled in the EPG?

    Huge thanks for your amazing efforts!!

    Reply

  16. Hi Guys,
    Could you take a look at the Albury / Wodonga guide as it has an error loading the page. “error on line 1 at column 1: Document is empty”
    Thanks in Advance

    Reply

  17. Hi guys,

    Any chance you’d be able to fix the XML feed for Perth- specifically 9 Gem HD Perth, seems to be missing entries for the last few weeks.

    Many thanks for maintaining these XMLs.

    Reply

      1. Hi Tony,

        Channel 95. The XML for Perth seems to know about it in the header, but hasn’t actually pulled any program info for it.

        Thanks!

        Reply

      1. Disregard my previous post – Adelaide.xml has been updated. I normally download updates around 3AM, but the copy I pulled down this arvo is fine.
        Thanks for the good work 🙂

        Reply

      2. Hi TonyB,
        I have been using this for several years with Plex and this is my first problem. Thank you all for the great work. My guide has disappeared in Plex starting Feb 2, ie no new entries are their, I have tried deleting the DVR and redoing it. But nothing. I have tried ICETV and the guide works.
        Any suggestions would be appreciated.
        Kind Regards
        Mark

        Reply

      3. Looks like you have formatting violations in your guide data (namely SBS Radio). Plex will not populate the guide since the 27th as it crashes due to the format violation. there are 2 extra zeros in the time format.

        Issues are with Sydney,

        36.yourtv.com.au
        37.yourtv.com.au
        38.yourtv.com.au
        39.yourtv.com.au
        301.yourtv.com.au
        302.yourtv.com.au
        303.yourtv.com.au
        304.yourtv.com.au
        305.yourtv.com.au
        306.yourtv.com.au
        307.yourtv.com.au

        Example of correct entry:

        TV Shop – Home Shopping
        Fish Seeker
        Home shopping program.
        Shopping
        S2016E218
        2015.217.
        2022-02-04 03:00:00

        SDTV

        G

        and Example of bad invalid entry

        BBC

        Radio

        This is wrong 2022020400000000 +1100 and should be 20220204000000 +1100

        As you can see there are two extra zeros in the data making it invalid.
        I am linking spec for time for xmltv data
        xmltv/xmltv.dtd at master · XMLTV/xmltv (github.com)

        Hope you can report/fix this soon 🙂
        Mark.

        Reply

      4. Hi, An update, I removed these offending channels from by PVR channel list and it’s now fixed the guide. YaY 🙂

        36
        SBS Arabic24

        37
        SBS Radio 1

        38
        SBS Radio 2

        39
        SBS Chill

        301
        SBS Radio 1

        302
        SBS Radio 2

        303
        SBS Radio 3

        304
        SBS Arabic24

        305
        SBS PopDesi

        306
        SBS Chill

        307
        SBS PopAsia

        Reply

      5. Hi, An update, I removed these offending channels from by PVR channel list and it’s now fixed the guide. YaY 🙂 36 SBS Arabic24 37 SBS Radio 1 38 SBS Radio 2 39 SBS Chill 301 SBS Radio 1 302 SBS Radio 2 303 SBS Radio 3 304 SBS Arabic24 305 SBS PopDesi 306 SBS Chill 307 SBS PopAsia….. You will probably want to let the guide providers know there are extra 2 zeros “00” in time stamp of those channels causing the issue.

        Reply

        1. Hi,

          There was a change in the way SBS were formatting the times which caused an error with those stations. This was fixed a while ago, so you can add those back in if you want to!

          Reply

  19. Hi Mark, just discovered your awesome site!

    Just a small question, how often are the linked guides updated? I had presumed daily but it seems as of now they are many days old?

    One other thing, there seems to be a small bug with the IMDB ID for some movies eg. Ben-Hur in your xml data has an ID of title/tttt0052618 when it should only have 2 letter “t’s” before the numbers. Just a heads up!

    Reply

    1. Hi John,
      They are updated daily, the imdb data is fed from the broadcasters so sorry we cannot change it.

      Hit refresh on your guide and they should be ok,

      Reply

    1. Hi Paul,
      Did you check the xml, sometimes you need to manually refresh and other times may need to readd the service through plex.

      Reply

  22. Hi, thanks for a great service.

    Just wondering if there is a quick way to remove old entries from the file?
    The earliest entries start at 7th Sep, 2020 so I’d like to trim it down to only the last week or 2 and the future entries.

    Reply

  23. I notice WIN Sky Northern NSW, Channel 53, in the Newcastle XML has no icon. Any chance of adding one?

    Thanks.

    Reply

  24. Hi,

    I noticed there’s no icon for Sky News on WIN:

    WIN Sky Northern NSW
    53

    for the Newcastle area.

    Any chance we will see one added soon?

    Keep up the good work,

    Greg

    Reply

  25. Just wondering if its possible to tidy-up the ordering of channels in the Adelaide feed? SBS world movies it right done the bottom – can’t it appear with the other SBS channels?
    I’m also using the guide with NextPVR on the Win10 PC, I view the guide using a browser based app called XSLTV which was broken but I found the right command line option to make it work.

    Reply

  26. Thanks heaps for providing this service. I’m using PVR Live on a Shield and a HDHomerun tuner – running sweet.

    Reply

    2. I think the Adelaide.xml has stopped updating – not sure how long this has been going, but Ch-44 only has data to 30Jan and other chans upto around 03Feb.

      Reply

  28. Is 10SHAKE is missing from the Gold Coast xml feed. This is the new channel from last month – however, cant say I have watched anything from it as yet.

    Reply

    1. Hi Vaise,
      I am not sure that 10 shake is officially launched yet, it isn’t showing any any of the feeds or guides. When it does we’ll be sure to update.

      Reply

      1. I have looked at several of the XML files and they seem to have last been updated on Friday. Are they only updated on weekdays?

        Reply

  30. I am trying this feed with Plex and seeing the same issue as Sam on October 8, 2019 at 5:43 pm
    I am not getting any HD channels in plex. If I filter the guide to HD, no channels show even though they are mapped OK from the tuner.
    I have tested with the IceTV XML feed, and the HD channels are there OK.
    I am using the Melbourne guide.
    Can you please assist?

    Reply

    2. HI Alan,

      I’ve looked at this issue and this will be corrected. Can you confirm that the channels that are HD in Melbourne are channels 1,15,20,30,31,32,70,73,90,95 ?

      Reply

    3. Hi Alan,
      If the HD channels are not showing yet, can you first refresh the guide. If that doesn’t work then can you please rescan channels and then the HD channels should appear. If that doesn’t work, delete the DVR and readd the DVR.
      That should fix the problem. Let us know how you go.

      Reply

      1. Hi Markcs and Admin,
        Sorry for the late reply. I have given up on Plex for other reasons, so this is no longer an issue.
        Thanks for your help.

        Reply

  31. Hi,

    Using this on Nvidia shield via Plex in Melbourne.

    I am having issues displaying the 10 Bold logo. It’s showing 10HD although the show lineup is correct. I’ve readded and rechecked the mapping of the channels and I am still experiencing the issue. This problem shows both on a browser and the plex app on my shield tv.

    Reply

  32. Hi Legend, i believe Ch 10 released a new channel today in Melbourne Called 10 Shake Ch13.
    any chance this can get added?

    Reply

    1. Hi Michael,
      It has already been added and is in the xml. You may need to rescan in Plex and add it in there. Let me know how you go.

      Reply

      1. Hi There, Thanks for a great EPG, I’ve rescanned the the hdhomerun channels into emby and do remap for new channel 10 channels they no longer load the EPG.
        I’ve tried redoing the link, but it doesn’t work

        Reply

  33. Hi
    am in the Sydney region using Plex and I noticed today the guide ends on Sunday sep 6 (3 days time). Is the problem my end or yours?
    Thanks for your great work..

    Reply

  36. Very grateful of this service but a few popular channels seem to be missing from the Sydney feed:
    SBS viceland
    SNS ONE HD
    the Channel 10 channels

    P.S im display all the guide via Emby.

    Reply

    1. Thanks Mark,
      Can you please provide the specific channel numbers that are missing? Not sure how Emby loads the content however the channel names are there in the XML. Have other Emby users noticed this?
      You can also load the xml in your browser to check the channel and programs.

      Reply

      1. Hi, please disregard my post. In emby you need to manually map some channels to the correct channel in the XMLtv feed. Super easy.

        Reply

  38. Thanks for your awesome efforts!
    I was wondering if it were possible to compile multiple regions? I have IPTV streams from multiple cities and I want to create an EPG.

    Reply

  41. Thanks so much for the hard work on this!

    I use it as the EPG on the tvheadend backend.

    The fact that it pulls down episode numbers is a life saver for duplicate handling.

    Reply

  42. Thanks so much for this. Awesome work.
    Only issue I have is that the logos for the following channels appear to be missing for Adelaide:
    10 HD
    SBS HD
    7 Mate HD

    No biggie, but would be awesome to have them appear.
    Jason.

    Reply

    1. Hi Jason,
      Is this on the browser or TV? Some of the security settings on some browsers appear to not like certain logos. Let us know and we can investigate further for you.

      All the best
      Bridjee

      Reply

  43. Excellent work. I’ve just started to use this with Emby. Looks great. Will have to let the Aussie Emby community know about this….. 🙂

    Reply

  45. Works very well with my Tvheadend and HDHomerun combination. Thank you for all your effort. Much appreciated.

    Reply

  47. Widebay feed – Is there no HD Channel 7? Channel 7 is there but no 70.
    I might be interpreting it incorrectly too.

    Reply

  49. Today my guide stopped showing channels
    Worked yesterday

    Have a hdhomerun works with its own app, just not in Plex now
    any ideas or changes

    Im on Ballarat guide

    Reply

    1. Hi the Ballarat guide seems to be ok on our end, we don’t have HDhomerun so cannot check specifically if there are any issues.

      Reply

  50. This is excellent. I have been using it for a few days with HomeRun from SiliconDust – Their hardware is good (very well constructed, but a bit pricey in Oz though). Unfortunately their software is pretty basic and won’t run on an AppleTV; but by using the Channels DVR apps with the /Perth.xml feed it is working really well with an AppleTV, iPad, iMac (Catalina) and Windows 10.
    Cheers, and a heartfelt “Thank You”.

    Reply

  51. Thanks for the guide…..have you managed to get Channel 32 – SBS World Movies…My region is Adelaide.

    Cheers

    Reply

    1. Hi Adam,
      It should be added now. Plex should pick it up in the next run or you may have to enable the channel in Plex settings afterwards.

      Reply

  52. Hi there,
    This looks amazing. I’m trying to use it with xteve to use with plex. When I put it in I get the following error:

    XML:encoding “ISO-8559-1” declared but decoder.charsetreader is NIL

    Any ideas?

    Reply

  53. Can I request a few changes/updates?

    * ABC KIDS Listen icon URL is going to a page not found
    * 9 Rush is a new channel. Would it be possible to get feed and icon?
    * Would it be possible to get a 7mateHD icon?

    Thank you so much for this service!

    Reply

    1. Thanks Kirk,
      Can you please let us know what region you are in, it makes life easier for all requests thanks. We’ll look into what we can do.

      Reply

    2. ABC KIDS Listen icon URL is going to a page not found – will be fixed in the next release.

      For new channels, in Plex you need to do a rescan to get them in Plex. Plex does not automatically add channels. If this doesn’t add the channel please let me know.

      Please make sure your mapping in the setup is mapped to the 7mateHD feed not the regular 7mate selection, that should give you the icon. If it doesn’t please let us know

      Reply

      1. Legend! Would it be possible to also get:
        * 29 – tripled j Unearthed feed and icon?
        * 203 – ABC Country feed and icon?
        * 204 – ABC NewsRadio feed and icon?
        Can I donate $10 for your time and effort?

        Reply

        1. Those three radio channels are coming very very soon. However, the guide is not published anywhere, so the EPG will be empty. You will be able to map and listen to those stations though

          Reply

  58. Very nicely put together, kudos all round. This is so much better and (so far) more accurate than the FreePG feed (R.I.P.)
    I would be happy to help any way I can (30+ years in software dev ?) if you need it

    Reply

    2. HI Andrew

      Happy to take any contributions on github!! Please submit any changes or updates and I’ll happily look at them!

      Thanks

      Reply

    1. Hi Adam,
      If you can let us know what region you are in and the channel SBS Movies is on we can check for you

      Reply

  62. Yeah wow, thanks very much.
    Just switched over from IceTV.

    Do you have a PayPal link for donation? I’ll set a reminder for a month and if all is working well I’d be happy to throw $5 your way.

    Reply

  63. Hi
    Thanks for this, I tried IceTv but it does not give access to all channels. this is far better
    Thanks so much!!
    Damien

    Reply

  65. The second line of the XML file

    !DOCTYPE tv SYSTEM “xmltv.dtd”

    Makes Excel and Access reject the import of these files. It would be so nice if that line wasn’t there.

    I realise this is a niche thing, but I figure it doesn’t hurt to ask.

    Reply

  66. guide works perfect except the tv show neighbours on 10 peach always shows up as a movie and not the show making it impossible to series record,

    Reply

  67. Hi

    The guide works fine but I can’t get HD channels to work in Plex, they all map back to SD channels, even though HD guide is mapped to HD channels.

    Everything works fine with IceTV’s feed. Any ideas?

    Reply

    1. Hi Sam,
      You can manually override in advanced setting in Plex recordings to specify the channel. Can you please let us know what region you are in so we can investigate?

      Reply

  68. This xml file work the first few times i loaded it in TV Scheduler Pro but it now sends java into 100% cpu usage.

    Reply

  70. Hi guys, is there any chance of this being updated to include the new Radio stations?

    Thanks so much for putting it together by the way!

    Reply

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