Channel declares no icon
The guide falls back to the playlist logo or a placeholder.
What it means
A <channel> element has no <icon src="..."> child, so the guide supplies no artwork of its own for that channel and clients must look elsewhere.
Why it matters
Clients prefer the guide icon where one exists. Without it they fall back to the playlist tvg-logo, and if that is also missing the channel shows a placeholder — which makes the guide harder to scan, since viewers navigate by logo.
How to fix it
- Add <icon src="https://..."/> to each <channel>.
- Use absolute HTTPS URLs.
- Keeping guide icons and playlist logos consistent avoids channels appearing to change identity between screens.
Check your own stream
The free EPG checker runs this check on every analysis and links each finding straight back here.
Open the EPG checker →Frequently asked questions
- What does "Channel declares no icon" mean?
- A <channel> element has no <icon src="..."> child, so the guide supplies no artwork of its own for that channel and clients must look elsewhere.
- Why does it matter?
- Clients prefer the guide icon where one exists. Without it they fall back to the playlist tvg-logo, and if that is also missing the channel shows a placeholder — which makes the guide harder to scan, since viewers navigate by logo.
- How do I fix it?
- 1. Add <icon src="https://..."/> to each <channel>. 2. Use absolute HTTPS URLs. 3. Keeping guide icons and playlist logos consistent avoids channels appearing to change identity between screens.
- How can I detect this automatically?
- Paste your XMLTV programme guides URL into StreamTest's free EPG checker. It runs this check on every analysis, flags the finding, and links straight back to this page — no sign-up required.
Related Programme guides checks
- XMLTV timestamps have no UTC offsetTimestamps without an explicit offset are ambiguous, and are the usual cause of a guide that appears shifted by whole hours.
- XMLTV guide has holes in a channel scheduleConsecutive programmes do not join up, leaving blank stretches in the guide.
- XMLTV guide does not extend far enough aheadThe guide runs out within hours, so viewers lose programme information partway through the day.
- The guide is not well-formed XMLThe document could not be parsed as XML, so nothing else could be checked.
- The document has no <tv> root elementThe XML parsed, but its root is not <tv>, so it is not an XMLTV guide.
- Guide declares no channelsWithout <channel> elements there is nothing for a playlist to match against.