A programme guide can retain yesterday’s listings even when no replay is available. The entry describes a scheduled showing. It does not itself provide a recording, replay entitlement or a working archive resource.
Some players integrate catch-up functions with guide data, but several layers must agree: the source must provide the relevant feature, the account must permit it and the application must support the required method. A visible past title establishes none of those layers on its own.
Separate history from a playable resource
A retained listing can help identify what aired at a particular time. That is useful information even if selecting it does nothing. A replay interface may use the programme’s start time and duration to request another resource, but that operation is distinct from reading the guide.
Likewise, a replay icon or catalogue label can be based on metadata that needs confirmation. Avoid promising a fixed number of catch-up days from an old screenshot or another provider’s arrangement. The current account’s actual terms and supported source determine the available window.
Check a replay question precisely
If replay is not part of the source arrangement, adjusting guide timestamps cannot create it. If the feature is supported but requests the wrong window, timestamp interpretation becomes a relevant diagnostic question. Keep those findings separate.
- Identify the exact channel edition and dated programme.
- Establish whether the source and account actually offer replay for that entry.
- Check the player’s documented catch-up support and required configuration.
- Record the result of selecting the entry through the supported route.
- Distinguish an absent option from an option that returns a specific error.
Respect the available window
A past programme can remain in the guide after the replay window has expired. The guide’s historical range and the source’s retained media range need not match. A calendar control that reaches farther back is not a promise that every date can be opened.
Do not confuse catch-up with personal recording or a downloadable copy. Those features can have different storage, permissions and device requirements. A player that displays one does not automatically provide the others.
For support, name the dated event, expected feature, visible control and exact outcome. Avoid sending account-bearing replay addresses in public. The useful conclusion should identify whether the issue is unsupported replay, an expired window, a configuration mismatch or a specific request failure. That is more actionable than saying the guide is broken merely because a past title is visible but cannot be watched.
Useful answers
Does yesterday’s guide entry prove replay exists?
No. It is schedule metadata, not proof of a playable archive.
Is catch-up the same as recording to my own device?
No. They are distinct features with different requirements.
Can guide history extend beyond replay retention?
Yes. The two windows can differ.