Editing Electronic program guide (section)

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[[File:Mythbuntu Program Guide.png|thumb|330px|right|Electronic programming guide interface in [[MythTV]].]]

'''Electronic programming guides''' ('''EPGs''') and '''interactive programming guides''' ('''IPGs''') are menu-based systems that provide users of [[television]], [[radio]], and other media applications with continuously updated menus that display scheduling information for current and upcoming [[broadcast programming]] (most commonly, [[TV listings]]). Some guides also feature backward scrolling to promote their catch up content. They are commonly known as '''guides''' or '''TV guides'''.

Non-interactive electronic programming guides (sometimes known as "navigation software") are typically available for television and radio, and consist of a digitally displayed, non-interactive menu of programming scheduling information shown by a [[cable television|cable]] or [[satellite television]] provider to its viewers on a dedicated channel. EPGs are transmitted by specialized video [[Character generator|character generation]] (CG) equipment housed within each such provider's central [[cable television headend|headend]] facility. By tuning into an EPG channel, a menu is displayed that lists current and upcoming [[television show]]s on all available channels.

A more modern form of the EPG, associated with both television and radio broadcasting, is the interactive [electronic] programming guide (IPG, though often referred to as EPG).<ref>{{cite web|title=A typical PVR website which makes no references to "IPG", using instead "EPG" throughout for the interactive electronic programme guide, as can be confirmed with a site search|url=http://www.toppy.org.uk/|website=Toppy|access-date=3 June 2010|archive-date=12 June 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612081520/http://www.toppy.org.uk/|url-status=live}}</ref> An IPG allows television viewers and radio listeners to navigate scheduling information menus interactively, selecting and discovering programming by time, title, channel or genre using an input device such as a [[keypad]], computer [[Computer keyboard|keyboard]] or television [[remote control]]. Its interactive menus are generated entirely within local receiving or display equipment using raw scheduling data sent by individual broadcast stations or centralized scheduling information providers. A typical IPG provides information covering a span of seven or 14 days.

Data used to populate an interactive EPG may be distributed over the [[Internet]], either for a charge or free of charge, and implemented on equipment connected directly or through a computer to the Internet.<ref>{{cite web|title=An example of a computer program to export Internet-derived data from an EPG (DigiGuide) to set timers on a PVR (Topfield)|url=http://website.lineone.net/~rwein/toppy/toppy.htm|website=Lineone.net|access-date=3 June 2010|archive-date=15 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160415070640/http://website.lineone.net/~rwein/toppy/toppy.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Television-based IPGs in conjunction with [[Programme Delivery Control]] (PDC) technology can also facilitate the selection of TV shows for recording with [[digital video recorder]]s (DVRs), also known as personal video recorders (PVRs).