Catch-up TV — sometimes called replay TV or, informally, "start again" — lets you watch a programme that has already been broadcast on a live channel. Instead of scrolling a separate on-demand library, you move backwards through the normal TV guide and press play on something from earlier today or earlier in the week. It is one of the features that makes a good IPTV setup feel more capable than traditional live TV, and it works quite differently from video on demand.
How catch-up TV actually works
The provider continuously records the broadcast of each catch-up-enabled channel and keeps those recordings on its servers for a set period — the retention window, commonly two to seven days. When you open the guide, scroll to a past time slot and select a programme, your player app requests that specific recorded segment from the server and streams it to you like any other video. Nothing is recorded or stored on your device.
Because the recording happens centrally, catch-up only exists for channels the provider has chosen to record, and only as far back as the retention window allows. Once a programme falls outside that window, it is gone from catch-up unless it also appears in a separate on-demand library.
Catch-up vs. VOD vs. cloud DVR vs. timeshift
These terms overlap in everyday use but describe different things:
- Catch-up TV: recently broadcast programmes from live channels, available for a limited window, browsed through the TV guide.
- Video on demand (VOD): a curated library of films and shows that were never tied to a broadcast slot. It does not expire on a rolling window the way catch-up does. The technical contrast is covered in live streaming vs video on demand.
- Cloud DVR / cloud recording: you choose in advance to record a future programme, and it is saved to your account rather than recorded for everyone.
- Timeshift (pause and rewind live TV): rewinding the channel you are currently watching by a few minutes or hours, using a short rolling buffer — not the multi-day archive that catch-up provides.
Why catch-up depends on accurate EPG data
Catch-up is navigated entirely through the electronic programme guide. The player needs to know what aired, on which channel, and exactly when, so it can request the right recorded segment. If the guide is missing, misaligned by an hour, or shows the wrong programmes, catch-up will either be unavailable or will play the wrong content. This is why EPG problems and catch-up problems usually appear together. Our guides to how EPG data works and the XMLTV format behind it explain what can go wrong and how the timing is set.
How to use catch-up in a player app
The exact wording varies, but the pattern is consistent:
- Open the full TV guide (EPG), not just the channel list.
- Scroll left or backwards in time, or select a past day.
- Highlight a programme that has already finished. If catch-up is available for it, you will see a play icon, a small clock or "archive" marker, or a "watch" or "replay" option.
- Press play. Use the seek bar as you would with any recording.
Apps that handle catch-up well (and how they label it) are compared in the player apps comparison. In Kodi, catch-up depends on the PVR add-on and template configuration — see the Kodi setup guide.
Why catch-up is missing for some channels
- The channel is not recorded. Providers enable catch-up on a subset of channels, usually the most-watched ones.
- The programme is outside the retention window. Anything older than the archive period is no longer available.
- The EPG for that channel is missing or misaligned, so the player cannot map a time slot to a recording.
- Your player app does not support catch-up, or the playlist type in use does not expose it. Xtream Codes logins expose catch-up more consistently than a plain M3U — see M3U vs Xtream Codes.
- Rights restrictions can exclude specific programmes even on a recorded channel.
Catch-up and the rest of your setup
Remember that catch-up playback opens its own stream, so watching catch-up on one screen while someone watches live on another counts as two simultaneous connections — see how many devices can use IPTV at once. For a plain-language tour of the surrounding concepts, essential streaming terms explained is a good reference, and the glossary has short definitions.