If you searched for a free US or Canadian EPG, you want an XMLTV URL that fills your guide with the right networks, your local stations and the right times. North America is harder than Europe: local affiliates are numerous, feeds are split by time zone, and the free files that carry local stations are very large. OneTV Connect is a player: it reads guide data from sources you add, and it does not provide channels, playlists or subscriptions.
Everything below was downloaded, decompressed and counted on 22 September 2026. We only list what we measured. For the general approach by country, see the EPG sources by country hub.
Sources tested on 22 September 2026
Sizes are compressed, then uncompressed. The horizon is the range of programme start times found in the file on the test day.
| Source | URL | Size (gz → xml) | Horizon | ID format | Major channels | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| epgshare01 US2 | https://epgshare01.online/epgshare01/epg_ripper_US2.xml.gz | 6.4 MB → 76.7 MB, 766 channels | Day −1 to day +3 | ABC.National.Feed.us2, ESPN.HD.us2 | National feeds (ABC National Feed and Pacific), CBS Sports Network, CBS News, Fox News, ESPN, ESPN2. No local affiliates. | 22/09/2026 |
| epgshare01 US_LOCALS1 | https://epgshare01.online/epgshare01/epg_ripper_US_LOCALS1.xml.gz | 55.6 MB → 558 MB, 4,456 channels | Day −1 to day +3 (WNBC-DT: 21 to 25 Sept) | WABC-DT.us_locals1 | Local ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX affiliates by call sign: WABC-DT, KABC-DT, WNBC-DT, WCBS-DT, WNYW-DT. | 22/09/2026 |
| epgshare01 CA2 | https://epgshare01.online/epgshare01/epg_ripper_CA2.xml.gz | 6.4 MB → 71 MB, 696 channels | Day −1 to day +3 | CBC.Vancouver.ca2, CBMT-DT.ca2 | CBC, CTV and Global by city, TSN (1 to 5, 4K), Sportsnet 4K. | 22/09/2026 |
| open-epg United States (11 files) | https://www.open-epg.com/files/unitedstates1.xml.gz to unitedstates11.xml.gz | 0.1 to 5 MB each, 153 to 2,736 channels per file | About day −1 to day +2 | ESPN.us, ABC (KABC) Los Angeles, CA HD.us | Split across 11 files. File 1 has ESPN and ESPN2 but no ABC, CBS or FOX network. File 11 has stations such as ABC (KABC) Los Angeles. | 22/09/2026 |
| open-epg Canada | https://www.open-epg.com/files/canada.xml.gz | 2.5 MB → 17.7 MB, 863 channels | About day −1 to day +2 | CBCTORONTOHD.ca, TSN1HD.ca | CBC, CTV and Global by city, TSN 1 to 5. Sportsnet not checked. | 22/09/2026 |
| epg.pw US | https://epg.pw/xmltv/epg_US.xml.gz | 20.5 MB → 161 MB, 5,475 channels | Dense 22 to 24 Sept, then about 1,000 programmes a day to 29 Sept | Numeric (e.g. 12385) | ABC National Feed, WABC-DT, WNBC-DT, CBS Sports Network, FOX (WCTI-TV2) New Bern, NC, ESPN HD. | 22/09/2026 |
| epg.pw CA | https://epg.pw/xmltv/epg_CA.xml.gz | 2.4 MB → 19.5 MB, 696 channels | Day 0 to day +2 or +3 | Numeric | CBC Calgary and other CBC stations, CTV, Global, TSN 1. Sportsnet not checked. | 22/09/2026 |
| i.mjh.nz (free ad-supported channels) | https://i.mjh.nz/PlutoTV/us.xml.gz, https://i.mjh.nz/SamsungTVPlus/us.xml.gz, https://i.mjh.nz/Plex/us.xml.gz (also ca for Pluto and Samsung) | Plex US 2.4 MB → 15 MB; others under 1 MB | 12 to 24 hours | Opaque IDs | Pluto TV, Samsung TV Plus and Plex channels only. Never ABC, NBC, CBC or CTV. | 22/09/2026 |
Update frequency is not documented by any of these providers. Every file carried a timestamp from the test day, which suggests a daily refresh, but that is observed, not guaranteed. File names also change: epgshare01 renamed US1 and CA1 to US2 and CA2, and the old names no longer exist. None of these free sources publishes a licence for its data, so treat them as personal use only.
Which combination to pick
- National networks and cable only: epgshare01 US2 plus CA2. Together about 148 MB uncompressed for 1,462 channels, with the networks, news, ESPN, CBC, CTV, Global and TSN. This covers most setups that do not rely on a local station.
- Canada only, lighter: open-epg Canada at 17.7 MB uncompressed, four times smaller than CA2, with CBC, CTV and Global by city. Its horizon is about a day shorter.
- Local affiliates of your city: the free options are US_LOCALS1 (558 MB) or epg.pw US (161 MB). On Apple TV every refresh has to download and parse the whole file, which costs memory and loading time. Add one of them only if you actually watch local stations, and not both. The clean alternative is Schedules Direct, a paid, licensed listings service at US$35 per year (price checked on 22 September 2026) with a 7-day trial.
Always use the .gz version. Adding more sources is not free: each one is
downloaded and parsed at every refresh, so add only what your playlist needs.
Call signs and channel IDs
The general matching method is in our tvg-id mapping guide. What is specific to North America:
- A network is not a station. A channel called "NBC" in a playlist is almost
always a local affiliate, identified by its call sign: WNBC in New York, KNBC in Los Angeles.
In the files that becomes
WNBC-DT. The national feed does not carry the same schedule, since local news slots differ. - Suffixes matter.
-DT,-DT2and-LDare different digital subchannels of the same station. WCTI-TV2 in epg.pw is a FOX subchannel of a New Bern station, not the main channel. - epgshare01 adds the file name to each ID:
.us2,.us_locals1,.ca2. When a file is renamed, every ID changes with it. That already happened with US1 to US2. - open-epg IDs can contain spaces, brackets and commas, for example
ABC (KABC) Los Angeles, CA HD.us. Copy them exactly. - CBC, CTV and Global are one station per city: CBLT Toronto, CBMT Montréal,
CBC.Vancouver.ca2,GlobalCalgary-CICT.ca. Choose the city of the stream you receive.
For French-language Canadian channels (TVA, ICI Télé, Noovo, Télé-Québec), see our guide for Québec (French-language channels). For British channels, see the UK guide.
Time zones and daylight saving
The United States spans six time zones: Eastern (UTC−5, UTC−4 in summer), Central, Mountain, Pacific (UTC−8, UTC−7 in summer), Alaska and Hawaii. Arizona does not observe daylight saving. Canada runs from Pacific to Newfoundland (UTC−3:30), and Saskatchewan does not change its clocks. Daylight saving time ends on 1 November 2026.
The files do not all use the same offset. epgshare01 US2 is mostly written in
+0000, but also contains -0400, -0500 and
-0700. That is correct XMLTV, as long as the player reads the offset of each
programme instead of assuming one.
Networks publish separate East and Pacific (or West) feeds of the same channel, shifted by three hours. If your guide is consistently three hours off, you matched the wrong feed. Pick the ID that corresponds to the stream you actually receive.
Adding the URL in OneTV Connect
- Open Settings → EPG.
- Add an XMLTV source and paste one of the
.gzURLs above. - Repeat for a second file if needed, for example US2 then CA2. Sources stack: one fills the gaps of the other.
- Check a few channels, and remap any that did not match.
If the guide stays empty, go through the EPG loading checklist. OneTV Connect is the IPTV player for Apple TV that reads these guides alongside the playlist you already have.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free US guide with my local ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX stations?
Yes, but only in the very large files. In our 22 September 2026 test, local affiliates such as WNBC-DT, WCBS-DT and WNYW-DT were in epgshare01 US_LOCALS1 (558 MB uncompressed) and epg.pw US (161 MB). No lighter free file we tested had them. If you need local stations, Schedules Direct (US$35 per year) is the licensed alternative.
Why does my guide show the right programmes three hours off?
You probably matched an East feed to a Pacific stream, or the reverse. The same network is published as separate East and Pacific (or West) channels with a three-hour shift. Pick the identifier that matches the feed you actually receive.
Which identifier should I use for CBC or CTV?
The one for your city. CBC, CTV and Global are published as one station per city, for example CBC.Vancouver.ca2 or CTV.Toronto.HD.ca2 in epgshare01, and CBCTORONTOHD.ca in open-epg. Matching the Toronto station to a Vancouver stream gives you the wrong local news.
Do I need to change anything when daylight saving time ends on 1 November 2026?
Not if your player reads the time offset in each programme start. The files mix offsets: epgshare01 US2 is mostly +0000 but also contains -0400, -0500 and -0700. A player that ignores the offset will be wrong before and after the change.