Features
Catch-Up TV and Look-Back: Why It Works on Some Channels and Not Others
Catch-up is a request to someone else’s archive. Where that archive exists it works; where it does not, no setting can create it.
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What catch-up needs at each end
At the source, catch-up needs a stored copy of the programme and a way to request it, usually an address pattern the player builds from the channel identifier and the programme's start time. In the app, it needs an entry in the guide that points at that programme, because catch-up is selected from the schedule rather than from a separate library. Remove either half and the feature disappears: no archive means nothing to request, and no programme data means nothing to select.
Catch-up, recording and on-demand are three different things
| Feature | Where the copy lives | Who controls it | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catch-up or look-back | On the provider's server | The broadcaster or provider | Only for channels that keep an archive |
| Local recording | On your device | You | Wherever the build supports it and storage allows |
| On-demand library | A separate catalogued service | The service | Independent of the channel list |
| Pause and timeshift buffer | In memory during the session | The app | Only while you stay on the channel |
Why catch-up exists on some channels only
- Storage and rights cost money, so providers keep archives for channels where demand justifies it.
- Live sports are frequently excluded from archives at the rights holder's request, even on channels that offer catch-up for everything else.
- Rolling news and music channels have no discrete programmes to archive, so there is nothing to replay.
- A channel added recently may not have an archive yet, which looks like a broken feature rather than a new one.
How to use catch-up when it is available
1.Find the programme in the guide, not in a menu
Catch-up is selected from a past programme entry in the schedule, so the guide is the entry point rather than a separate library.
2.Go back a day rather than a week
Archives are typically short, and the practical window is usually the last few days rather than the last month.
3.Check whether the event was excluded
Where a channel offers catch-up generally but not for a specific match, the exclusion is a rights decision rather than a fault.
4.Confirm the guide data is current first
Catch-up needs a programme entry to select, so a channel with no schedule data shows no look-back even when an archive exists.
Frequently asked questions
Worth knowing: Catch-up depends entirely on whether the source keeps an archive, so the same app will offer look-back for one group of channels and none at all for the next.