JSON EPG format

The JSON-EPG format is an alternative format for the XMLTV format (as used by Kodi's PVR IPTV Simple add-on) to list TV and Radio channel EPG data with all required metadata.

JSON-EPG format

This is a draft for version 1 of the standard.

The key used in the epg dictionary should be the same as the id of the channel in the JSON-STREAMS format. This will be used to link the data to the right channel.

Attributes

Attribute	Required	Description
start	Yes	The start time of the program in ISO-8601 datetime format.
stop	Yes	The end time of the program in ISO-8601 datetime format.
title	Yes	The title of the program.
description	No	The description of the program.
subtitle	No	The subtitle of the program. This can be the Episode name.
episode	No	The episode number in case of a show in the S01E01 format.
genre	No	The genre of this program.
image	No	A URL to an image for this program.
date	No	The original air date for this program.
credits	No	A list of credits for this program.
stream	No	An direct plugin://-url to play this program.

More information

• start and stop
  The start and end times for a program is in the ISO-8601 format (YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSor YYYY-MM-DDTTHH:MM:SS+HH:MM). If timezone information is missing, than UTC (Z) is implied.

• credits
  An optional list of credits can be supplied for this program. A credit is an object with the property type that can be actor, director, writer, adapter, producer, composer, editor, presenter, commentator or guest, and a property name that contains the name of the person. For the type actor, an optional property role can be added to give the name of the character that is played.

  Examples:

  • {"type": "director", "name": "David Benioff"}
  • {"type": "writer", "name": "George R.R. Martin"}
  • {"type": "actor", "name": "Kit Harington", "role": "John Snow"}

• stream
  This is the endpoint that will be called when this program should play. It will be used to directly play a program from the EPG.

  Example: plugin://plugin.video.example/play/catalog/f71549ba-f985-41c3-916a-6cc3b3305b83

Example

{
  "version": 1,
  "epg": {
    "een.be": [
      {
        "start": "2020-04-01T12:45:00",
        "stop": "2020-04-01T12:50:00",
        "title": "My Show",
        "genre": "Quiz",
        "description": "Description of My Show",
        "subtitle": "Episode name for My Show",
        "episode": "S01E05",
        "image": "https://www.example.com/shows/my-show/s01e05.png",
        "date": "2018-04-01",
        "stream": "plugin://plugin.video.example/play/catalog/3F2504E0-4F89-11D3-9A0C-0305E82C3301",
        "credits": [
          {
            "type": "director",
            "name": "David Benioff"
          },
          {
            "type": "director",
            "name": "D.B. Weiss"
          },
          {
            "type": "writer",
            "name": "George R.R. Martin"
          },
          {
            "type": "actor",
            "name": "Kit Harington",
            "role": "Jon Snow"
          },
          {
            "type": "actor",
            "name": "Emilia Clarke",
            "role": "Daenerys Targaryen"
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "radio1.be": [
      {
        "start": "2020-04-01T12:45:00",
        "stop": "2020-04-01T12:50:00",
        "title": "My Show",
        "description": "Description of My Show",
        "subtitle": "Episode name for My Show",
        "episode": "S01E05",
        "image": "https://www.example.com/shows/my-show/s01e05.png",
        "date": "2018-04-01"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Useful references

The following links may help you understand the original XMLTV format:

• XMLTV website
• XMLTV specification (DTD)