How to Organise 21,000 Channels Into Something Usable
Nobody watches twenty thousand channels. Ten minutes setting up favourites and hiding groups turns an overwhelming list into a personal channel lineup.
The first time you open a full IPTV channel list it is genuinely overwhelming. Thousands of channels across dozens of countries, most of which you will never watch.
The fix takes about ten minutes and it is the single highest-value thing you can do after setup. Do it once and the service stops feeling like a database and starts feeling like television.
The principle
You are doing two things:
- Hiding the groups you will never watch — entire countries and categories, removed from view
- Marking favourites — the twenty or thirty channels you actually use, on one screen
Both are per-device settings in the player app, not changes to your subscription. Nothing is deleted; hidden groups can come back any time.
In TiviMate
TiviMate has the best tools for this, which is a large part of why people prefer it.
Hide groups you do not want:
- Settings → Playlists → your playlist → Channel groups
- Untick everything you will not watch
- Back out — the guide rebuilds with only what is left
Do this first. Cutting from forty groups to five makes everything afterwards easier.
Add favourites:
- Long-press a channel in the guide (press and hold OK/Select)
- Choose Add to favourites
- Repeat for the channels you use
Reorder them:
- Settings → Playlists → your playlist → Channel sorting
- Move channels into the order you want
Put your five most-watched at the top. The difference between pressing down twice and scrolling for thirty seconds is what makes it feel like a TV rather than a spreadsheet.
Make favourites the default view: in Settings → Appearance, set the app to open on favourites. Now switching on the TV shows your channels, not twenty thousand.
In IPTV Smarters Pro
Simpler but effective.
Add favourites: open Live TV, long-press or select the options icon on a channel, choose Add to Favourites. A Favourites category appears alongside the others.
Hide categories: Smarters lets you hide categories from the Live TV screen — look for the settings or filter icon in the top corner.
Smarters has less reordering control than TiviMate. If custom ordering matters, that is a reason to switch — our player app comparison covers the trade-offs.
On a Samsung or LG TV
IBO Player, Duplex and Smarters Player Lite all support favourites, though the mechanics vary — usually selecting a channel and choosing a favourite or star option.
These apps generally offer less organisation than the Android players. If you have thousands of channels and a basic TV app, favourites are the main tool you have, so use them.
A sensible approach
Start with sport. Whatever you follow — Super Rugby, the Warriors, the Black Caps, an overseas football league — find those channels first and favourite them. For most households this is why the subscription exists.
Add news and general entertainment. Three or four you would actually turn on.
Add channels in other languages if your household watches them. For many New Zealand families this is the real reason for IPTV, and burying them in a list of twenty thousand defeats the point.
Stop at around thirty. A favourites list of two hundred channels is just a smaller version of the original problem.
You can always add more later. The goal is that turning on the TV shows you something watchable immediately.
Multiple people, multiple devices
Favourites are stored per device and per app. The lounge TV, the bedroom box and your phone each keep their own.
This is usually a feature rather than a bug — different people watch different things. But it means setting up three devices means doing this three times. Do the main TV properly; the others can be rougher.
Keeping the guide healthy
Refresh the playlist occasionally. Providers add and remove channels. Most apps have a refresh or reload option; running it every few weeks keeps the guide accurate.
Clear the cache if it gets sluggish. A long-running app accumulates guide data. Settings → Apps → your player → Clear cache. Not Clear data, which wipes your login and your favourites with it.
Expect occasional changes. Channel numbering and group names shift from time to time, which can scramble a custom order. It is worth a quick tidy every few months rather than rebuilding from scratch.
Why this matters more than it sounds
The most common reason people stop using an IPTV subscription is not quality. It is friction — a channel list too big to navigate, so turning on the TV becomes work and they open Netflix instead.
Ten minutes of setup removes that entirely. It is the difference between a service you paid for and a service you use.
The setup guide has the per-device basics, and the FAQ covers the rest.
Common questions
How do I hide IPTV channel groups I never watch?
In TiviMate, go to Settings, Playlists, your playlist, then Channel groups and untick everything you will not watch. Do this before anything else — cutting from forty groups to five makes the guide usable immediately and everything afterwards easier.
Do favourites sync between devices?
No. Favourites are stored per device and per app, so the lounge TV, the bedroom box and your phone each keep their own list. That is usually helpful, since different people watch different things, but it does mean setting up each device separately.
How many channels should I put in favourites?
Around thirty is the sweet spot. A favourites list of two hundred channels is just a smaller version of the original problem. Start with the sport you actually follow, add three or four news and entertainment channels, then any channels in other languages your household watches.
