Keep a local station name with an ampersand in the guide

IPTV Complete Forum editorial lab

2026-11-13

The escaped text form preserves the visible station label without breaking XML.

Reproduce the condition

The XMLTV sample below is a small synthetic file. It carries no active media source or account data.

<tv>
  <channel id="news.example"><display-name>News &amp; Weather</display-name></channel>
  <programme start="20250715180000 +0000" stop="20250715190000 +0000" channel="news.example"><title>Evening test</title></programme>
</tv>

What the local check found

Reproducible check against the packaged fixture and parser.
Expected signal	Observed signal
Channel ID and programme timing passed this check	Channel ID and programme timing passed this check

What to do next

Keep the programme’s channel ID stable when changing the visible display label. Use an XML serializer when updating the export.

What to share if the problem continues

The exact parser result and version of the importer or player.
A minimal redacted sample with dates, IDs or segment names retained as needed.
The output after checking the source export separately from the viewer app.

Sources and further reading

XMLTV format reference