There are loads and loads of free-to-air channels available on the Astra 28 constellation, the vast majority of which I do not watch.

So to make things a bit easier for me after a full re-scan, I’ve put together a list of the channels I don’t watch and with a tiny bit of SQL I can trim them from my channel list.

To make things a bit easier for you here is a SQL dump of my “unwatched channels” list:

unwatched_channels.sql

And here is the SQL to trim these from your channel list:

update channel set visible=0,useonairguide=0 where name in (select name from unwatched_channels)

You’ll probably want to edit that list yourself to remove and add the channels as you prefer. Generally speaking, my list trims:

  • Regional variations
  • Specialist interest
  • Shopping
  • Games and other text based services

I’ll update this list occasionally, this page will always have my most up to date information.

  • UPDATE: 6 Sept 11. Refreshed channel list
  • UPDATE: 8 Oct 11. Refreshed channel list
  • UPDATE: 14 Dec 2011. Refreshed channel list
  • UPDATE: 4 Aug 2012. Refreshed channel list
  • UPDATE: 29 Dec 2013. New list of channel IDs available here: unwatched_by_chanid. Add a new table and import that CSV file. Then do a “update channel set visible=0 where chanid in (select chanid from <your new table>”