Make the next choice easier
A long channel list is not automatically a useful one. The same few channels can disappear among regional variants, unfamiliar names and categories you rarely open. Organisation is valuable when it reduces the work needed to choose what to watch.
Start by observing your own use. Which channels do you return to? Which labels confuse you? Which channels are merely occasional, and which should be hidden from the normal view? These questions lead to different controls in Odyssey.
Favourites, custom categories, names and visibility solve different problems. Using each for its intended purpose keeps the setup easier to revise later.
Favourites are the smallest useful change
A favourite is a shortcut, not a replacement for the source’s full catalogue. Begin with the handful of channels you look for most often and try using Live’s Favorites category for a few days.
The provider-channel menu uses Add Favorite and Remove Favorite. Channel Studio’s menu uses Add to Favourites and Remove from Favourites. The spelling differs, but both are distinct from deleting a channel or changing the media source.
A short list becomes less helpful as it approaches the size of the original list. Add a channel because you repeatedly want it close, not because it might someday be useful. Occasional channels can remain in their normal categories.
Names should preserve useful differences
A shorter label can make the list more readable, but some parts of a provider name matter. Region, language, quality and time-shift information can distinguish channels that otherwise look identical.
For example, removing an unhelpful prefix may improve scanning. Removing “+1” can hide the fact that you are selecting a delayed channel. A good custom name is clear enough to recognise without discarding the details you use to choose.
Odyssey’s organisation tools separate presentation from provider identity. Renaming does not change the underlying stream, guide mapping or parental classification. It cannot turn protected content into unrestricted content simply by giving it an ordinary name.
Categories express a purpose
A custom category can bring together channels from more than one source. That is useful when your viewing purpose crosses provider boundaries: your daily channels, a particular language or an occasional themed collection.
Moving a channel into a custom category preserves its provider-category membership in the app. You are organising Odyssey’s view, not rewriting the source’s catalogue.
Give the category a purpose you can explain. If two categories mean almost the same thing, the distinction may add work rather than remove it. Begin with one useful custom category and expand only when you find a clear reason.
Order for frequency, then for recognition
Put the channels you use most where they are easiest to find. Within a broader category, a consistent order can also help: related programmes together, then a small number of exceptions you deliberately want close.
The available reorder controls depend on the saved channel and managed category scope. Provider organisation can use Move Up and Move Down in its editor. A Channel Studio channel has its own Reorder action, where assigning an occupied channel number swaps positions.
These are different editing systems because provider channels and your own scheduled channels have different identities. Follow the guide for the kind of channel you are changing instead of assuming every menu offers an identical operation.
Use icons as recognition aids
An icon works best when it helps you recognise a channel at a glance. A set of clear, consistent images can be easier to read than a collection of detailed posters at small sizes.
Provider-channel organisation accepts hosted HTTPS image addresses for individual icons. The current flow does not upload those images. Shared Channel Studio channels have a separate online custom-logo upload, with supported formats and a size limit.
Those differences matter when maintaining the list. A provider icon URL that becomes unavailable has a different remedy from a Studio logo that has been selected but not yet saved and published. Use the specific workflow and verify the resulting channel appearance.
Hiding is a stronger choice than not favouriting
If a channel is simply not part of your daily shortlist, leave it outside favourites. If you deliberately want it out of the normal Live view, Hide Channel changes its visibility while keeping the provider channel and saved category membership.
That distinction makes later troubleshooting easier. When a channel seems missing, check the active profile, category, source access and hidden state. A guide refresh is unlikely to explain a channel you explicitly hid through organisation settings.
For Channel Studio, Delete Channel is stronger still: it removes the saved channel and lineup entry while leaving original source films and series intact. Removing a favourite should never require that action.
Save a small batch and check it
The organisation editor keeps changes in a draft until Save Changes. That lets you group related presentation edits, but it also means that Apply Name or an applied guide assignment may not be the final commit.
Make a manageable set of edits and return to Live to check the result. If another session changed the saved organisation, use the editor’s conflict information rather than assuming your older draft is still current. Cancel can offer a choice to discard or keep editing.
A small batch makes mistakes easier to notice. If you rename, hide and regroup dozens of channels at once, an unexpected result is harder to trace to a particular choice.
An orderly list still needs working sources
Presentation does not repair an unavailable stream or grant source access. A polished label with the wrong programme information needs guide matching; a correct guide with failed playback needs investigation of the media connection.
Use Favourite channels for the quick shortlist and Organise provider channels for exact editing steps. For personal published channels, use Channel Studio management.
The result to aim for is simple: you recognise the choices, know where to look and can explain why each part of the lineup is there.
Last checked: 2026-10-08.
Odyssey 2.0.0 source snapshot (build 1037); release availability may vary.