This may be a dumb question but isn't OTA TV still basically exactly what you describe?
this post was submitted on 03 Apr 2026
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I probably could've clarified that - the key here is it's my media put on my schedule.
Like others have said, ErsatzTV is no longer developed, but Tunarr picks up where it left off, including a settings import from ErsatzTV to make migrations easier.
I was just about to set up ErsatzTV for this exact thing, but the maintainer announced recently that he’s not updating it anymore and nobody is taking over. It’s probably fine for now, but I’m hesitant to start running it. He’s encouraging forks, but none are really the clear successor yet as far as I know. I don’t know if there’s anything else comparable.
Tunarr
Ive tried ersatz and a couple of other things it was cool
if you're needing this channel on multiple devices at once (synced-ish) then ersatz is the way to go.. but it uses some hardware/horsepower and it bugged me seeing the metrics spin up on that server for me to wanna have some background noise
instead, i found out kodi can do smart playlists!
I have jellyfin/emby feeding several kodi installs, and made various playlists based around various rules (can be genre, folder, tags, or TV show titles etc), with one of the rules being playcount for episodes/movies being under a certain number.
added a script for starting each playlist to buttons in home assistant, and bam, poor mans channels.
when an episode gets finished, the playcount goes up, keeping us from seeing the same episodes.
i know we're getting crazy here but i even created a variable, so when the house knows i put it in "TV mode" like that, it maps my channel up and down buttons to the skip foward, skip previous buttons, making it feel more like channel surfing. which is a little much, but puts a smile on my face.
in the home assistant script, you could add a "skip 3 minutes" when "changing channels" so it feels like real TV, no need to see the first few minutes of speed! Where is Sandra Bullock!?
Your "poor man's channels" is a slick fix. I haven't messed with HA yet, but didn’t think about whether that could cue up specific playlists. That'd get me one bit closer.
There's also pluto tv, xumo, etc that have live channels that basically run content throughout the day.
I just recently found out about FieldStation42. It takes quite a bit of configuring, but I really like the idea.
ErsatzTV is what I use, but it's definitely overkill for my usage. I just want a channel that plays Friends, Seinfeld, The Office, Parks & Rec, all shuffled, all day.
ErsatzTV definitely works for that, but it's overkill for just that use case.
Jellyfin has an iptv addon you can install
Try just using digital TV. I get like 20 channels on mine with just a coax cable hooked to a VCR!
But then I'm tied to "normal" tv channels saturated with ads, yeah?
That's very much part of the experience you seem to crave /s
It won't really feel like a tv channel until I put 5 minutes of prescription drug commercials between every cut in a show.
prescription drug commercials
Referencing anal leakage and death while an upbeat jingle plays in the background to some smiling old people playing horseshoes or hiking in nature.
Talk to your doctor today!
Maybe there is a FOSS self hosted solution for mixing good old tv ads into the mix!
Ersatz actually does allow you to do this. Its kinda neat to find old 80s and 90s commercials and mix them in with your 80s and 90s TV shows.
Okay that would be fun. Couple retro commercials between an episode every now and then would be cool.
Indeed