How do I Schedule a Broadcast?
A scheduled broadcast plays a video from your Media Library at a set time. At its start time it interrupts the playlist, plays once, and ends when the video ends. The channel then carries on with its playlist.
For shows that air every week, use programs instead. See How do I Set Up Programs and Episodes?.
Open the Schedule
In the channel menu, click Schedule. Broadcast Scheduler shows:
| Area | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Status | Streaming while a scheduled broadcast is on air, Idle otherwise |
| Capacity | The total length of your scheduled broadcasts, and how many there are |
| Up Next | How soon the next broadcast starts |
| Broadcast Timeline (24H Monitor) | Today's broadcasts on a 24-hour bar: LIVE, QUEUED and PAST, with a NOW marker. Point to a broadcast to see its details |
| The list | Every broadcast, with its video, START WINDOW, END WINDOW, STATUS and CONTROLS |
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| pending | Waiting for its start time |
| live | On air now |
| completed | Finished |
| cancelled | Called off |
Schedule a Video
- Click Add Video. Schedule Broadcast opens.
- In Select Media, search for and choose a video. Only videos that are ready and usable on your channel are listed.
- In Transmission Start, set the date and time, in WAT. It's filled in with the end of your last scheduled broadcast, so broadcasts run back to back, or two minutes from now if nothing is scheduled. It must be in the future.
- Choose any options:
- Add to Catchup: add the broadcast to Catchup when it finishes.
- Play Logo Sting: play your channel's logo sting just before the video. It only appears when your channel has a logo sting.
- Click Confirm Schedule. Cecula Stream confirms New program scheduled!
The broadcast ends automatically when the video ends. Its end time is its start time plus the video's length, plus the logo sting if you chose one.
You may also see "…" is being packaged for this channel. Until that finishes it will play through the encoder. There's nothing to do: the broadcast airs as normal.
If a Broadcast Is Refused
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| This time slot overlaps with another scheduled broadcast. | Choose a start time after the previous broadcast ends |
| The start time field must be a date after now. | Choose a time in the future |
| "…" is …, below the …p this channel broadcasts, so it cannot be scheduled. Upload a higher-resolution copy. | Upload a higher-resolution copy of the video |
| "…" was packaged for a different set of resolutions than this channel uses and cannot be broadcast as it stands. Re-encode it from the Media Library first. | Re-encode the video. See Re-encode a Clip |
Edit a Broadcast
- Click Edit Schedule (the pencil) on the broadcast. Modify Broadcast opens.
- Change the video, start time or options.
- Click Update Window. Cecula Stream confirms Schedule updated successfully!
Things to know:
- The new start time must be in the future.
- Editing a live broadcast stops it. It airs again at its new time.
- Finished broadcasts are locked. The dialog says Branding controls and scheduling are locked for finished broadcasts. You can still add them to Catchup.
- Overlaps are refused: This update would cause an overlap with another scheduled broadcast.
Remove a Broadcast
- Click Remove from Schedule (the bin) on the broadcast. Cancel Broadcast? opens.
- Click Yes, Remove. Cecula Stream confirms Schedule removed.
⚠️ Later broadcasts move earlier
When you remove a broadcast, every upcoming broadcast after it moves earlier by the removed broadcast's length, to keep the schedule continuous. Check your start times afterwards.
If the broadcast is on air, removing it ends it straight away.
Clear the Schedule
To remove every broadcast, including finished ones:
- Click Clear Schedule.
- Click Yes, Clear It. Cecula Stream confirms Schedule cleared.
A broadcast that's on air ends straight away. This can't be undone.
Insert a Mid-roll Ad
You can split a scheduled broadcast and play an ad from your commercials reservoir in the middle. See Build the Reservoir.
- On a broadcast that hasn't finished, click Split & Inject Ad (the scissors).
- In Inject Mid-roll Ad:
- 1. Select Commercial: choose an ad from the reservoir.
- 2. Set Break Point: type the point in the video to break at, as
HH:mm:ss, or drag the slider.
- Click Apply Split & Inject. Cecula Stream confirms Ad break injected successfully!
The schedule now has three items in place of one:
- the first part of the video, ending at the break point
- the ad
- the rest of the video, continuing from the break point
Every broadcast after it moves later by the ad's length. You can insert more than one ad into the same video.
To take an ad out again, remove it from the schedule. The two parts of the video are rejoined, and later broadcasts move back.
If the break point isn't inside the part you chose, the ad is refused: Failed to inject ad: The ad break point … is not within this segment …
Add a Broadcast to Catchup
- Before it airs: turn on Add to Catchup when you schedule it.
- After it airs: click Push to Catchup on the finished broadcast. Once it's in Catchup, the button changes to Already in Catchup.
See How do I Add Videos to Catchup?.
To remove finished broadcasts from the list automatically, turn on Auto-Cleanup in Settings. See Auto-Cleanup.
Things to Know
- Priority: scheduled broadcasts take priority over playlists and program episodes. Live feeds take priority over scheduled broadcasts. See What Airs When.
- Live overruns: a scheduled broadcast doesn't wait for a live feed to finish. Its time window keeps running while you're live.
- Time zone: all times are West Africa Time (WAT).
- Deleted videos: deleting a video from the Media Library also removes its scheduled broadcasts.