Roomcaster

Creating Your First Channel

Set up a channel to get your programs playing on screens

What is a channel?

A channel is what your screens actually play. Each screen subscribes to a channel, and the channel's schedule determines what program is playing at any given time. Think of it like a TV channel — "Lobby", "Youth Room", "Pre-K" — each one can have its own lineup of programs.

Channels hold a schedule of programs with start and end times. You can schedule different programs for different days and times, or set a single program to play indefinitely.

Creating a new channel

  1. Navigate to Channels from the sidebar
  2. Click New Channel
  3. Fill in the details:
    • Channel Name (required) — something that describes where or what it's for, like "Main Hall" or "Kids Room"
    • Description (optional)
    • Poster Image (optional) — the tile artwork shown in the TV app's channel grid. Recommended size is 16:9 aspect ratio, at least 400x225px.
    • Backdrop Image (optional) — displayed on the top half of the TV screen when this channel is highlighted. Recommended size is 960x270px.
  4. Click Create
Create a channel by entering a name and optionally uploading poster and backdrop images.

Channel visibility

New channels are visible on your screens by default. If you'd like to hide a channel while you set up its artwork and programs, use the Channel visibility toggle in the sidebar when creating or editing a channel. You can turn it back on whenever you're ready for it to appear on your screens.

Setting up meeting times

If your organization has a recurring weekly schedule — like Sunday morning services or Wednesday night meetings — you can set up meeting times on your channel. These make it much faster to schedule programs week after week.

To add meeting times:

  1. On the channel creation or edit page, find the Meeting Times section
  2. Click Add Meeting Time
  3. Enter a label (e.g., "Sunday Morning"), select a day of the week, and set the start and end times
  4. Add as many meeting times as you need
Add recurring meeting times to make weekly scheduling fast and easy.

Meeting times are optional. If your content plays all the time or on an irregular schedule, you can skip this and use custom dates when scheduling programs.

Scheduling a program

Once your channel is created, you need to schedule at least one program on it. See Scheduling Programs for a detailed guide on how the scheduling wizard works, including meeting time quick-select, custom dates, and multi-week scheduling.

The simplest approach to get started: schedule a program with a start date of now and no end date. It will play continuously until you schedule something else.

Accessing your channel on a TV screen

After scheduling a program on your channel:

  1. Launch the Roomcaster app on your TV
  2. Your channel appears in the channel grid
  3. Select it — the currently scheduled program is ready to be played

Any changes you make to the channel's schedule or to a program's content will automatically reach the screens that are tuned to that channel.

What's next?

With media uploaded, a program built, and a channel set up, your content is now playing on your screens. From here you can:

  • Schedule more programs on your channel for different times and dates
  • Create additional channels for different rooms or displays
  • Add more screens and assign them to your channels

Still stuck?

Our support team is here to help.

Creating Your First Channel - Help Center - Roomcaster