Setup Your TV Channel

Channels let you run your own linear TV: a continuous stream of your videos and live events that viewers can tune in to on your website and apps, or watch anywhere you embed it. Each channel also gets its own program guide (EPG).

In this article:

  1. Channel types: Looped, Scheduled, YouTube, or External
  2. Create a channel: name, type, categories, and privacy
  3. Scheduling settings: what each channel type needs
  4. Thumbnail and EPG: how your channel looks in lists and in the program guide
  5. Edit and share your channel: privacy, links, and embed code
  6. Next steps: schedule your channel and go public

Channel types

  • Looped: plays your selected content in a continuous loop. Turn on Auto Schedule and Bamboo builds the schedule for you from the categories you choose.
  • Scheduled: plays content at specific times, like a TV station. You set what plays and when, and you can add live events to the schedule.
  • YouTube: plays videos you added from YouTube in a continuous loop. YouTube channels play on your website only, not in your apps or in embeds.
  • External: streams a channel you already have somewhere else, from its HLS URL, so it appears on your Bamboo website and apps alongside your other channels.

Tip: a channel plays either Bamboo videos or YouTube videos, not both. YouTube channels count toward your plan's channel limit.

Create a channel

  1. Go to Content → Channels and click Add Channel.
  2. Fill in the basic info:
    • Channel Name: the name viewers see across your platform.
    • Description: optional, shown on channel pages.
    • Type: Looped, Scheduled, YouTube, or External. See Channel types.
    • Categories: where the channel appears on your website and apps.
    • Privacy: Private channels are hidden from your website and apps. Keep the channel Private while you set it up.
    • Sort Order: the channel's position in lists. Higher numbers appear first.
  3. Fill in the scheduling settings for your channel type.
  4. Click Create Channel.

Scheduling settings

The Scheduling section changes based on the channel type.

Looped

  • Auto Schedule: turn this on to automatically generate a continuous schedule from the categories you select. Bamboo randomly picks the 50 newest videos from those categories, schedules a full week, and then adds one more day every day. The first schedule takes about 15 minutes to build. After that, you can review and change it in Playout.
  • Schedule Categories: the categories whose videos are used for the channel's schedule.

Scheduled

  • Schedule Categories: the categories whose videos are used for the channel's schedule.
  • Filler Playlist: plays in any gap where nothing is scheduled. A filler playlist is required for Scheduled channels, and only playlists with at least one video can be chosen.
  • Fallback Video: plays when a live event scheduled on the channel isn't available.

Tip: build your filler playlist from short videos of different lengths, such as promos and trailers, so gaps of any size fill smoothly. Learn more: Working with playlists

YouTube

  • Schedule Categories: the categories of YouTube videos to play on the channel.

Learn more: Add Videos from YouTube

External

  • External HLS URL: the HLS stream URL of your external channel.

Thumbnail and EPG

  • Thumbnail: upload it after you create the channel. Use a JPG or PNG up to 2MB, ideally 1920×1080 (16:9).
  • EPG Label: replaces the program names in the program guide with one label. Useful for channels with lots of short videos, like a music or clips channel, so the guide stays clean.
  • EPG XMLTV URL: to show this field, turn on Show EPG XMLTV URL in Content → Content Settings, under Channel Fields.

Edit and share your channel

Click a channel in Content → Channels to edit it. The edit page has three tabs:

  • Details: the channel's info, scheduling settings, thumbnail, and EPG.
  • Access: the channel's privacy.
  • Distribution: your channel's links (Channel Page URL, Standalone Page URL, and HLS Stream URL) and its embed code. Choose a player, then copy the iFrame or JavaScript embed.

Click Save Changes when you're done.

Next steps

  1. Schedule your channel: click Set Schedule → under the channel's name in Content → Channels. Learn more: Scheduling your TV channel
  2. Go public: when your schedule is ready, change the channel's privacy to Public so viewers can watch it.

Learn more: Scheduling your TV channel · Working with playlists · Going Live

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