iptv-database/CONTRIBUTING.md

Contributing Guide

How to add a channel to the database or edit its description?

1. Download the repository to your computer. The easiest way to do this is via GitHub Desktop.
2. Open data/channels.csv file in one of the spreadsheet editors (such as Google Sheets, LibreOffice, ...).
3. Make the necessary changes and save the file.
4. Make a pull request with all changes. This can also be done via GitHub Desktop.

IMPORTANT: Since different programs process CSV files differently before publishing an edited file, please make sure that:

• no extra columns (commas) were added to the file
• only CRLF is used to indicate the end of a line
• no empty lines at the end of the file

Data Scheme

• channels
• categories
• countries
• languages
• regions
• subdivisions
• blocklist

channels

Field	Description	Required	Example
id	Unique channel ID derived from the name and country separated by dot. May only contain Latin letters, numbers and dot.	Required	AnhuiTV.cn
name	Official channel name in English or call sign. May include: a-z, 0-9, space, -, !, :, &, ., +, ', /, », #, %, °, $, @, ?.	Required	Anhui TV
alt_names	List of alternative channel names separated by ;. May contain any characters except , and ".	Optional	安徽卫视
network	Network of which this channel is a part. May contain any characters except , and ".	Optional	Anhui
owners	List of channel owners separated by ;. May contain any characters except , and ".	Optional	China Central Television
country	Country code from which the channel is transmitted. A list of all supported countries and their codes can be found in data/countries.csv	Required	CN
subdivision	Code of the subdivision (e.g., provinces or states) from which the broadcast is transmitted. A list of all supported subdivisions and their codes can be found in data/subdivisions.csv.	Optional	CN-AH
city	The name of the city in English from which the channel is broadcast. May contain any characters except , and ".	Optional	Hefei
broadcast_area	List of codes describing the broadcasting area of the channel separated by ;. Any combination of r/<region_code>, c/<country_code>, s/<subdivision_code>.	Required	c/CN;r/EUR
languages	List of languages in which the channel is broadcast separated by ;. A list of all supported languages and their codes can be found in data/languages.csv.	Required	zho;eng
categories	List of categories to which this channel belongs separated by ;. A list of all supported categories can be found in data/categories.csv.	Optional	animation;kids
is_nsfw	Indicates whether the channel broadcasts adult content (TRUE or FALSE).	Required	FALSE
launched	Launch date of the channel (YYYY-MM-DD).	Optional	2016-07-28
closed	Date on which the channel closed (YYYY-MM-DD).	Optional	2020-05-31
replaced_by	The ID of the channel that this channel was replaced by.	Optional	CCTV1.cn
website	Official website URL.	Optional	http://www.ahtv.cn/
logo	Logo URL. Only URL with HTTPS protocol are allowed. Supported image types: PNG, JPEG. Max size: 512x512 pixels. The link should not be geo-blocked.	Required	https://example.com/logo.png

categories

Field	Description	Required	Example
id	Category ID	Required	news
name	Category name	Required	News

languages

Field	Description	Required	Example
name	Official language name	Required	Croatian
code	ISO 639-3 code of the language	Required	hrv

countries

Field	Description	Required	Example
name	Official name of the country	Required	Canada
code	ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code of the country	Required	CA
languages	List of official languages of the country separated by ;. A list of all supported languages can be found in data/languages.csv.	Required	eng;fra
flag	Country flag emoji	Required	🇨🇦

subdivisions

Field	Description	Required	Example
country	Country code of the division	Required	CA
name	Official subdivision name	Required	British Columbia
code	ISO 3166-2 code of the subdivision	Required	CA-BC

regions

Field	Description	Required	Example
name	Official name of the region	Required	Central Asia
code	Abbreviated designation for the region. May only contain Latin letters in upper case. The minimum length is 3 letters.	Required	CAS
countries	List of country codes in the region	Required	KG;KZ;TJ;TM;UZ

blocklist

List of channels blocked at the request of copyright holders.

Field	Description	Required	Example
channel	Channel ID	Required	AnimalPlanetAfrica.us
ref	Link to removal request or DMCA takedown notice	Required	https://example.com/issues/0000

Channel Logo Guidelines

Since finding a suitable logo for the channel is not always possible, this list contains only recommendations and should just help you in choosing a logo from several options.

1. If the channel logo has several versions, it is better to choose a color one.

   That way there is less chance of the logo blending in with the background.

   

2. If the logo has changed over time, use the latest version.

   

3. If the channel has several versions of the logo, it is better to use the one used on air.

   

4. If there is a transparent background around the logo is better to cut it.

   That way it's much easier to scale the logo later.