How Auto Event Detection works
Event and PPV channels change what they show every day, and their schedule sits in their name, for example "PPV 01 | Northfield vs Riverside | 20:00". A country guide knows nothing about them. Live sports (Auto Event Detection) reads those names, finds the real fixture and turns each event channel into a proper live sports channel.
Where it lives
Open Live TV, click the TV guide tab, then click Live sports at the top of the tab. You see:
- At the top right: the Auto switch, Settings and Build now.
- Five tiles: Events on air, Live now, Need a look, Guide entries today and Last run.
- On air: the events your channels carry right now.
- Leagues: your own rules for single leagues.
Settings opens a panel with the settings for all your event channels. It saves by itself.
Which channels it looks at
Only the channels you marked as PPV / event. You mark them once in the channel panel, for many at once, or for a whole group with Event group in its ⋯ menu. New channels your provider adds to an event group count too. While no channel is marked, Build now stays greyed out. More in Move events into a group.
What it does with each event channel
- Reads the name: It finds the event in the name your provider gives the channel: two teams ("Northfield vs Riverside", "Harbor City @ Lakeport") or a single event ("Fight Night 12"), and the time.
- Finds the fixture: It looks the event up in sports data across every sport, so you never have to pick a league.
- Writes the result: It renames the channel after the event, writes the guide entry for the time it is on, and a second entry for the hours before, so the channel is never a blank row. With Matchup logos on, it puts a "Team 1 vs Team 2" picture made from the club badges on the channel.
The Preview sorts every event channel into one of three groups:
| Group | What it means |
|---|---|
| Matched | The real fixture was found. The guide gets the competition, the kick-off, records and venue where known. |
| Named from the channel | The name looks like an event, but no fixture was found right now. The name and guide come from the channel's own words. |
| Skipped | No event could be read from the name. The channel is left alone. |
A name that gives a time but no date, for example "Fight Night 12 20:00", counts as today.
The life of an event channel
With a Live events group set, M3UTool also keeps the group tidy:
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| The event is known | The channel is shown, renamed and given its guide. With Move events into it on, it moves into your live events group. |
| Before the start | The guide shows the coming event, for example "Next: Northfield vs Riverside". |
| The event is over | 3 hours after its start, or when its guide entry ends, the channel is hidden and goes back to the group it came from, for example PPV. |
| The name says "No event" | The channel is hidden until the provider names the next event. |
Events in the live events group are sorted by start time, with what is on now at the top. An event with a date but no time lasts its whole day.
Leagues
A league rule does not recognise anything by itself. It decides two things for the matches of one league: what the league is called, and which group its matches go to. The Leagues on air list shows the leagues your own channels carry today. More in Add a league.
When it runs
- When you click Build now.
- About every three hours, while Auto is on.
- After a refresh of your playlist, when the provider renamed an event channel.
- After every refresh, when Live sports refresh is on in Playlist automation.
What you decide
- Which channels are event channels.
- Whether events are collected in one group, and which one.
- Whether a league gets its own name or group.
- How names and guide entries read, and in which time zone. More in Event wording and times.