RSS Feed for Sky Digital

corblimey

Anyone know of an RSS Feed that shows the tv guide for some or all of the sky digital channels (in the family package).

I assume that with their Sky+ box in full flow, there not be an official feed, but I would hope that someone somewhere has developed one.

pH

It's not RSS but you could check out :

Freeguide TV

It uses XMLTV and has many of the channels on the Sky EPG and it's free.

There are a number of 'pay' guides also.

pH

byte

I think many will agree that www.digiguide.com is the best. It's not free but at an annual fee of under UK£10 it's very good.

corblimey

Okay, thanks all. I'll take a look although I suspect I could cobble something together from entertainmentireland.com and the like using RegExp.

daveirl

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Drag00n79

Yup, DigiGuide is excellent alright. Just wondering, if anyone knows of a site which gives details of the main US channels' schedules (NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox etc). I know I can get each individual channel by going to their site but a free site with them all on it would be nice.

John R

There is a US version of Digiguide, hardly free though.
http://www.mytvinfo.com/

Free sites:
http://www.tvguide.com/
http://www.zap2it.com/

there are many others.

The main US networks do not run full tv channels in the same way as over here. They provide portions of prime time and in some cases daytime programming for local affiliate stations, the rest of the programming is different in each area.

doh.ie

daveirl wrote:

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Couldn't have put it better myself. Sometimes it is just worth it.

As for the US question, there *was* a US version of Digiguide from the same people - customisable by zip code! - about two years ago, but they must have had issues with getting listings accurately or other complications, because I don't see any mention of it now. Back then, I did download it for the craic and set it up and it worked well.

Another alternative for US listings is zap2it.com - not a program, but the web grid is pretty straightforward. (Edit: John R already mentioned this; didn't spot it.) Key programming in each area is consistent (apart from varying timezone start times) from 7pm ET/8pm through to 11pm on each network station, but as John R pointed out, each local station will have a different line-up during the day and nighttime periods.

John R

doh.ie wrote:

As for the US question, there *was* a US version of Digiguide from the same people - customisable by zip code! - about two years ago, but they must have had issues with getting listings accurately or other complications, because I don't see any mention of it now. Back then, I did download it for the craic and set it up and it worked well.

The first link I posted is it, the digiguide people have sold/leased their program to an american company who collate the listings and market the product.

doh.ie

John R wrote:

The first link I posted is it, the digiguide people have sold/leased their program to an american company who collate the listings and market the product.

Ahh. That explains it. I wondered why Digiguide's site didn't mention it anymore. The interface doesn't look as nice as the UK and Ireland one at all, certainly nothing like the way the Digiguide version did when they were operating it. But good to see Gipsymedia's made some money out of the product overseas and from rebranding listings here. (Their web listings are used on Five's site (www.five.tv) and a few other sites too.)

John R

It looks exactly like the UK digiguide version from the screenshots, just a different colour and different viewing options. AFAIR it is the exact same program underneath, even the website is the same with a different skin.

doh.ie

John R wrote:

It looks exactly like the UK digiguide version from the screenshots, just a different colour and different viewing options. AFAIR it is the exact same program underneath, even the website is the same with a different skin.

Is it? Maybe I've just customised the hell out of mine and the viewing options for the US one just look a world away. The program in the link above looks grey and dull compared to even the default Gipsymedia one. Will give it a download and have a mess about, see how they compare.

John R

AFAIR when they switched from v5 to v6 the default changed from the green scheme to that grey one, if you upgraded it didn't change though. I agree it lookes awful in comparison, I changed mine immediately.

It is a fantastic program, the US version is priced a bit steep though. It would be handy to have the US network and main cable listings but I wouldn't pay that much for it, maybe if I was in the US it would be worth it but not just for noseyness.

daveirl

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doh.ie

I use zap2it's for keeping an eye on what's on over there, so I know when each new episode of particular shows are. Although tvtome.com's front page offers a handy guide to what's new each night on a particular day.