Television used to be strict: if you weren’t on the sofa at nine, the programme was gone. Catch-up relaxes that rule. On channels that save their broadcasts for a while, SSTV IPTV lets you return to earlier in the day, or several days back, and play a programme as if you had recorded it.
A quick example
It’s Sunday evening and you were out during the afternoon game. Open the guide, move to the sports channel that showed it and slide the timeline back to three o’clock. The match is there as a block in the schedule; select it and it starts from the opening whistle. You can skip the half-time talk, rewind the goals and stop whenever you like.
Spotting channels with an archive
Not every broadcaster allows replays, and those that do keep them for different lengths of time, anything from a single day to about a week. In TiviMate Premium, a small clock or archive symbol beside the channel marks the ones you can rewind. If a channel has no symbol, it can only be watched as it airs.
Restarting what’s on now
Joined a film twenty minutes late? On an archive channel, many players offer “play from start” for the current programme, so you don’t need to wait for tomorrow’s replay.
When catch-up isn’t the answer
| You want to… | Use |
|---|---|
| Watch something from the last few days | Catch-up, on an archive channel |
| Keep a programme for longer | A recording in TiviMate Premium, on a device with storage |
| Watch a film or series whenever you like | The on-demand catalogue |
| Follow a programme on a channel without an archive | A reminder or a recording set in advance |
Our article on how catch-up works explains why archives differ between channels.
Catch-up in different apps
TiviMate Premium shows archives most clearly and handles them most reliably. In the SS IPTV app, replays work when the playlist link includes the archive details, which is why we recommend the link format given in our setup guide. Other players vary; their guides in the install section mention what to expect.
Replay questions
How many days does the archive cover?
That depends on the channel: some keep a day, others close to a week. The guide only lets you go back as far as the channel’s archive.
Can I fast-forward through adverts in a replay?
Yes. A replay behaves like a recording, so you can skip forwards and backwards.
Does a replay count as a screen?
Yes. Playing from the archive is a stream like any other, so it uses one of your plan’s screens.